Framework for the use of official occupational accident investigations as a learning tool: analysis of a public programme for accident investigation in the manufacturing sector

Abstract

Accident investigation is a useful tool for safety science. The use of accident investigation as a learning tool at the macro level necessitates specific requirements quite different from the usual needs at the company level. A proper codification system and information on the accident scenarios are needed to let safety practitioners identify if the information is useful for the organisations they are assessing. In the same way epidemiological tools have been applied to the analysis of circumstances of accidents, the epidemiological statistical tools can help to draw conclusions for a set of investigated accidents. Our case study includes the description of the dataset used in a programme for learning from accidents in Andalusia: ‘Pudo haberse evitado’ (this can be translated as ‘This could have been prevented’). This paper covers the requisites for a macro-level learning programme and the possibilities of analysis of the dataset in a ‘research to practice approach’.