Occupational deaths can be predicted: Experts

DENVER — Most workplace casualties have similar basics that employers in high-risk industries can study to prevent similar disasters, according to industrial safety experts.

An impetus to study the root causes of workplace deaths arose in the wake of a deadly methane gas explosion in 2023 at a coal mine in Kazakhstan operated by ArcelorMittal SA, a steel and mining company based in Luxembourg. according to Mike Dwyer, the company’s corporate health department. director of safety and security, who spoke Thursday at Safety ’24, the American Society for Occupational Safety’s annual conference.

“We wanted to build this model together so we can predict where the next fatality will occur,” said Mr. Dwyer of Kitchener, Ont., who worked on the root cause model with co-presenter Peter Susca, Wethersfield . Connecticut Director of Operational Excellence LLC, a consulting company doing business as OpX Safety.

The pair looked at other fatal incidents and found similar factors, such as general organizational problems, including a focus on profit and failure to invest in equipment; poor management and responsibility for safety; a work culture comfortable with hazards; and poor operational decisions.

In the case of methane explosions in mines, not enough time is allowed for the gas to be released before sending workers into a mine – a business decision usually made to compress a work timeline — is a contributing factor, said Mr. Dwyer, who found 26 factors that can lead to disasters.

Mr. Dwyer and Mr. Suscă said that workplace deaths come down to six elements: the presence of a hazard; exposure to danger during work; ineffective controls when dealing with danger; an organization that does not assess these three elements; an immediate change in the work process, such as a problem with equipment or personnel; and overall poor management.

Mr Suscă said it was common for employers to blame workers when there was a fatality – or for companies not to address the dangers and possibilities until someone was killed. Usually the problem is in the organization, he said.

“When you look at the organizational factors, they remain the same,” Mr Dwyer said. “It’s the lack of investment. It is about purchases, making decisions that are not consistent with safety. Bringing in cheap contractors without the best contractors. It’s all these types of decisions.”