We have been hearing “Immediate Cause of an Accident“, but only a few people can define what it is in clear terms.
To be able to carry out an effective accident investigation, you must understand the concept of the immediate cause of the accident. At the end of this article, you will no longer be looking for words to use to describe the immediate cause of the accident, as a detailed definition and explanation will be made available.
Immediate Cause of an Accident
What is the Immediate Cause of an Accident – The Immediate cause of an accident can be said to be a Proximate cause, a direct cause that occurs immediately before the incident. It is a cause that directly resulted in the unplanned, unpleasant occurrence, and if eliminated or modified, would have prevented the undesired outcome.
The immediate cause is mostly associated with unsafe acts, unsafe conditions, or both.
Examples Of Immediate Causes of an Accident
There are several examples of immediate causes of accidents; some are enumerated below:
- Improper housekeeping, and/or no housekeeping
- Improper use of tools, equipment, and facilities
- Unsafe or defective equipment, facilities
- Lack of proper procedures
- Improvising unsafe procedure
- Failure to follow designated procedures
- Lack of awareness of the hazards involved
- Lack of proper tools, equipment, and facilities
- Lack of guards, safety devices
Note: There is a marked difference between the immediate cause and the root cause.
Let us talk briefly about the root cause.
What Is the Root Cause Of the Accident
A root cause is a fundamental, underlying, system-related reason why an incident occurred that
identifies one or more correctable system failures.
The root cause of an accident in the workplace is the triggering event or condition that results in a workplace injury, illness, or near miss. During a root cause investigation, an employer will seek to identify all of the factors that contributed to an event. Such investigations should look beyond the easily identifiable, or surface, causes and identify systematic errors or flaws that enabled the event to occur.
READ: Work Accident – Types, Causes & Prevention
The root cause of an accident is a set of underlying conditions that led to the existence of the immediate cause.
Examples Of Root Cause Of Accident
- Hazards not recognized
- Facilities are inadequate for storage
- Inadequate training
- Not following procedures
- Lack of procedures
- Poor design or selection
- Poor maintenance
- Poor or Lack of supervision
- Poor safety culture
Root Cause Analysis
Root Cause Analysis, abbreviated as RCA, is a popular technique that helps people answer the question of why the problem occurred in the first place. It seeks to identify the origin of a problem using a specific set of steps, with associated tools, to find the primary cause of the problem, so that you can:
- Determine what happened.
- Determine why it happened.
- Figure out what to do to reduce the likelihood that it will happen again.
Root Cause Analysis assumes that systems and events are interrelated. An action in one area triggers an action in another, and another, and so on, like a chain reaction. By tracing back these actions, you can discover where the problem started and how it grew into the symptom you’re now facing.
In RCA, you will usually find three basic types of causes:
- Physical causes – Tangible, material items failed in some way (for example, a car’s brakes stopped working).
- Human causes – People did something wrong, or did not do something that was needed. Human causes typically lead to physical causes (for example, no one filled the brake fluid, which led to the brakes failing).
- Organizational causes – A system, process, or policy that people use to make decisions or do their work is faulty (for example, no one person was responsible for vehicle maintenance, and everyone assumed someone else had filled the brake fluid).
READ: 5 Important Questions To Ask During Accident Investigation
RCA looks at all three types of causes. It involves investigating the patterns of negative effects, finding hidden flaws in the system, and discovering specific actions that contributed to the problem. This often means that RCA reveals more than one root cause.
Difference Between Immediate Cause Of Accident and Root Cause Of Accident
An immediate cause is the direct, obvious cause of the incident, usually an unsafe act or condition, such as not wearing PPE.
While;
Root or underlying cause is the event or condition that allowed the immediate cause to develop, such as poor company culture and management controls.
So, above is a clear difference between the immediate cause of the accident and the root cause.
I also believe that you can now authoritatively explain what immediate cause of the accident it.
If you have any questions, you can ask via the comment box.
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