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Posted By Richard Forster
Alternatively known as 'Frank Spencer syndrome' most people seem to have a friend or relative who seem to have far too many accidents. I am interested in any points of view/anecdotes relating to the subject header.
Next week I will be asking 'What the hell is a near miss? If it nearly misses you it means it hit you surely?'
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Posted By Tyler
In my view, yes there is such a thing as 'accident prone'.
Some people in the work place (in my experience especially young males (18-22)as their brains haven't adapted to their rapidly growing bodies)may have a lack of co-ordination and be generally 'clumsy'.
It is for this reason that generic risk assessments have to be adapted, not only to the environment and location but also to the individual.
It is good practice to ensure that the most 'accident prone' person can do a job safely by utilising as many control measures as possible. By safe guarding him/her you in turn make it safe for just about every body.
I.E. The lowest common denominator (assume everyone is 'accident prone').
My question is, given the number of accidents that happen in the home, what is actually meant by the term, "Safe as houses!"?
Tyler
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Posted By Hilary Charlton
To make you laugh ...
I was very "accident prone" as a child. I once walked into a tree (yes really), fell backwards and sprained my ankle quite badly, luckily my friends mum was a doctor so she checked me out before mum whipped me off to the hospital. This was made all the more funny because I had my arm in a sling at the time from where I had shut my finger in the back door and chopped the top off it! Mum had to try and synchronise my appointments so she only had one trip to the hospital a day (in those days you could actually do that!).
My daughter inherited it, when in Gran Canaria a few years ago she walked into the side of a telephone box - the next day she walked into the same side of the exact same telephone box again. This was followed by walking into the display cabinet in MacDonalds after I'd told her that it was there!
Most people grow out of it, I agree with the previous respondent, when the body grows quickly you forget to take account of it and this can make you clumsy or "accident prone".
Hope I have given you some mirth - I got over it and now do Health and Safety for a living so it's quite ironic really.
Hilary
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Posted By Roger Smith
To save you time on next week's topic...
I don't have too much of a problem with the term "Near Miss" as I don't think of it as a shorthand for Nearly Missed (i.e. Hit). To me it suggests that although no-one was injured, they very nearly were due to timing, proximity etc. Compare it with the terms such as "Missed by a Mile". Some people feel more comfortable with the term "Near-Hit".
I prefer to do away with the term altogether. A "Near miss" is simply an accident that did not result in an injury to someone, (although it may have resulted in some other damage or loss). The trick is to get other people to see that and report the non-injury accident so that something can be done to stop it happening again before someone gets hurt.
Roj
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Posted By Steve Holliday
I was once told in some training course or another that there was in fact no such thing as accident prone, only people that are poorly motivated!
Ask yourself this question. If there is someone who regularly drops cups, mugs and glasses (and come on we all know someone) and you put a primed hand-grenade in their hand, would they drop it?
Of course not, but if they were truly accident prone they would be just as likely to drop a hand-grenade as they would a mug. They are just motivated not to drop it as they are fully awaire of the magnitude of the consequenses of a dropped hand-grenade.
Incidentally, I tried this explanation out on my girlfriend recently after another broken glass, as she describes herself as "clumsy". It is safe to say that she didn't altogether agree and my chance of having a drink made for me in the immediate future is slim to none!
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Posted By sylvia
Having been indoctrinated from early days learning the trade that accident-proneness was just a management excuse, I have long formed my own view that there are people who do have real co-ordination problems, and as identified, these are often young people who are still growing.
However, a propensity to have bad things happening all around them does seem to cling to some people, well beyond their youth. Sometimes it may be their helping-hands-on style, always getting into the thick of the action regardless (we all know someone like that).
The actual medical condition of dyspraxia is now recognised and there must be various degrees (to the very slight) of this in some people, not likely to be diagnosed.
On the note of motivation - I'm not sure. Who would be prepared to experiment? But it is known that if you draw someones attention to something they should NOT do, they may be drawn to do it - "Whatever you do, DON'T press the red button . ."
Whatever you do DON'T drop this hand grenade . . no - still not confident on that one!
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Posted By Merv Newman
I think I would combine problems with coordination and lack of or shortness of attention span - easily distracted from the work (or grenade) in hand.
As for some people being more or less unlucky, for whatever reason, that is normal statistical distribution - the "Bell curve"
However, even having worked in safety for over thirty years, I would have to put myself towards the right-hand end of the scale. When first named as safety supervisor, I checked back in the accident book, looking for "accident prones" and found that the person who had recorded the most minor injuries was me.
Apart from a number of scars for which I don't today remember the causes, I have been bitten by a rabid rabbit and caught whooping cough (both work related), the sleeve of a brand new shirt was blown off in an electrical flash and, off-the-job, have broken both achilles tendons - separate accidents 20 years apart.
And I don't believe that any of these were due to lack of coordination or of attention span.
Just unlucky ?
Merv newman
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Posted By Jim Walker
In my experience, the reason that young workers are more accident prone is they have not yet realised they are mortal (it won't happen to me).
As you get older (assuming you do!) you get in enough scrapes or see accidents to others to realise you have to adopt a different attitude.
My sons (early twenties) think I'm a bit slow on the roads, but they haven't yet witnessed the blood and gore of an accident yet.
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Posted By Sarah J Shaw
When I was doing studying insurance as part of a business studies degree, we were told by the turtor that from an insurance compnies perspective there is such a thing as an accident prone person. This did not necessarily relate to themselves causing accidents, but that it was a statistical phenomenom. Not sure if this helps, but I have come across it in insurance text books.
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Posted By Nigel Hammond
I am proud to be an accident-prone Health & Safety Manager! In the last month, I have given myself a nasty burn with a bread maker, I dived into a ditch of brambles after being chased by a bullock in a field I should not have been running in, and I caused a flood at work when I had a shower and managed to crack the base of the shower even though I weigh 11 stone.
I find that I am most accident-prone when I am tired. This is probably also a factor with young men - lots of late nights clubbing etc!
Have you heard about the chemical monoamine oxidase. Young men aged between 17 and 25 are deficient in it. The same applies to thrill seekers like skydivers. Lack of monoamine oxidase makes you crave risk. Too much and you take no risks - such as an agoraphobic person.
The HSE did a detailed report on accident proneness about 3 or 4 years ago. It might be worth looking at their web site. I cannot remember much of the report but I do remember it identified 'traumatic introverts' and 'extreme extroverts' as the most accident-prone types.
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