Introduction
Industrial accident implies a sudden and unexpected event attributable to any cause. It happens to an individual or a group of people arising from their work thus resulting to an employment injury or work place accident[1].
Construction, mining and transportation industries require heavy machineries for their work and thus they are associated with the highest rate of accidents. There are very many operations in these industries and thus if one is not keen enough, a heavy object can fall on him or he can even be cut by the machines. Industrial accidents result from any injury in the work place.
Causes
Most of the industrial accidents are caused either through negligence, accidents, or through incompetence. For example in the transportation industries, about 70% of the accidents are caused by negligence of the drivers[2] . However, the causes can be broken down to unsafe conditions and unsafe acts. Unsafe conditions imply that the working environment poses great risks to the workers.
The conditions include exposure to very high temperatures, excessive noise like loud music[3], structures that are not stable, naked electrical wires, very slippery floor, machinery malfunction or failure and many more. On the other hand, those caused by unsafe acts can be attributed to the employees due to their negligence or incompetence.
However, the employees are not the only to blame because some product manufactures also can manufacture faulty products, which can cause an accident. In addition, some employers of certain industries do not provide safe working places for their workers, which mean they can also be liable for industrial accidents.
In some other cases, some external happenings might be a cause of industrial accidents. For example, some toxic gas or radiations might be emitted in the working environment from some other places. In addition, a fire can spread until it reaches a work place, which means that industrial accidents can also have an external source.
These can result from natural forces like lightening, poor organization of a work place or outside interference. In the working area, a person can be injured by a falling object, a rotating sharp blade, a collapsing building, a fall from top of a building, electric shock, or burns from very hot liquids.
However, claims can be made for injuries[4] when someone is in the working environment. For example, when debris or machines fall on a worker and cause an injury to him in a building site, then this person is entitled to claim compensation. This normally happens where a worker has not been informed on how to be safe in a work place.
Prevention
Most of the accidents are caused by the poor conditions of the working environment and to minimize this, the employers should ensure that the working environment is very safe for the workers. In addition, they should hire competent workers who know how to operate various machines in a working site.
Reference List
Cane Peter. “Industrial accidents.” Industrial injury and Industrial Accident Compensation, no.4 (2011): 3-10. Web.
George, Kanawaty. Introduction to work study. Michigan: International Labor Organisations, 1992.
Koch, Bernhard & Helmut Koziol. Compensation for personal injury in a comparative perspective. Virginia: Springer publishers, 2003.
Smith, Clay, Henry. Music in relation to employee attitudes, piecework production and industrial accidents.Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1947.
Footnotes
- Peter Cane,“industrial accidents.” Industrial injury and Industrial Accident Compensation no 4 (2011): 3-10.
- peter Cane & P. S. Atiyah. Atiya’s accident , compensation and the law, (New York: Cambridge University Press,2006 ),p 256.
- Henry Clay Smith .Music in relation to the employee attitude, piece work production and industrial accidents,(Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1947), p 12-19.
- Bernhard Koch & Helmut Koziol . Compensation for personal injury in a comparative perspective. (Virginia: Springer publishers, 2003 ) p 146.