Union Approach to Health and Safety: - United Steelworkers

Resource Handout
WHY DO WORKPLACE INJURIES AND ILLNESSES HAPPEN?
Are Most Injuries Caused By Workers’ Unsafe Acts Or By Hazardous Conditions
On The Job?
Employers often identify “worker error” as the cause of workplace injuries and accidents
– a worker failed to follow a safety rule, committed an unsafe act, acted carelessly or
otherwise did something he or she should not have done. Unfortunately, the idea that
worker mistakes are the main cause of job injuries and accidents is promoted by many
employers and consultants.
However, every workplace injury, accident or incident has “root causes” which do not
have to do with worker behavior. Some of these root causes may not be readily apparent.
They often involve elements of management safety systems that were non-existent or that
failed. The following case is an example of why we have to look for root causes.
The Acid Burn
A worker was burned when sulfuric acid splashed on him while he was drawing a routine
sample from piping in a chemical plant. Management blamed the worker for failing to
wear a face-shield, acid suit and other personal protective equipment (PPE). Management
then issued a bulletin threatening to discipline anyone not wearing proper PPE.
In this case, the union requested that the joint labor-management health and safety
committee do further investigation of the accident. The committee found that there was
more going on than a failure on the part of a worker to wear PPE.
The procedure for collecting sulfuric acid samples was to hold an open cup under a bleed
valve on a pressured line in the acid pumps. The acid sometimes splashed out of the cup,
which made wearing PPE necessary. The committee realized that the “root cause” of the
incident was the procedure for taking acid samples. The committee recommended that
acid sampling points be redesigned to eliminate the potential for splashing altogether. A
simple way to do this was to sit the sample container in an enclosed sample box with a
glass door, where the valves could be operated from outside of the box. This eliminated
the hazardous exposure and the need for workers to wear the most cumbersome PPE.
The health and safety committee expanded their investigation to look at all of the sample
points in this plant. They discovered that the sampling points for dozens of different
hazardous materials were unsafely designed and were unnecessarily exposing workers.
The committee started a new program to have sample points throughout the plant
redesigned to eliminate or minimize exposures. This also eliminated the need for workers
to wear much of the formerly required PPE.