Cause–responsibility analysis of occupational accidents in an automotive company

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the root causes of accidents and the responsibility rates of the parties involved in those accidents. For this purpose, 20 important accidents of an automotive company were selected and the root causes, the parties involved in the accidents and the respective responsibility rates were determined by 10 experts based on dividing into 11 Tripod Beta basic risk factors and using occupational accident tree analysis (OATA) and occupational accident component analysis (OACA) techniques. The results revealed that among the defects in the management system, the organizational system’s defects had the greatest impact on the occurrence of occupational accidents. By modifying about half of the basic risk factors, 80% of occupational accidents can be controlled. Also, by focusing on monitoring and design units, the company’s accidents can be reduced by up to 50%.

Keywords:

• accident analysis
• root causes
• occupational accidents
• responsibility rate
• automotive company

Acknowledgements

The efforts of the esteemed staff of the Health, Safety and Environment (HSE), training, ergonomics, insurance, HSE committee, occupational medicine, helper units and automotive company, who have provided the necessary cooperation in advancing the objectives of this research, are highly appreciated.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.