A Critical Analysis of Techniques for the Reconstruction of Workers Accidents

Abstract

Among the available methods for the analysis of accidents/injuries, the “Learning from Mistakes” approach and the STEP method (Sequential Timed Events Plotting) have been used to analyze a typical accident, which often occurs, in which have been involved several workers that entered in a confined space containing toxic and/or inert gases, causing the workers death. A critical analysis of the investigated methods has been performed in order to identify the best available methodology; in particular, it was evidenced a problem of events representation with the “Learning from Mistakes” method because the entire sequence of the events that led up to the accident is represented in a linear way, on a same column, by this approach making difficult to relate events that took place simultaneously. The STEP method allows, on the other hand, a good description of the events sequence making possible to organize events related to the different workers/subjects in rows and taking into account simultaneously all aspects and issues that characterize it.