What's Your Opinion: Do you believe some individual workers are simply (and unintentionally) more injury-prone than others?

Some employees are more prone to accidents than others. Yes, some are unintentionally more accident prone, however, what about the employee that doesn't get enough sleep? Playing video games, texting, etc. all night? What about those that drink alcohol the night before work and also do not get enough sleep? What about those that are on illicit drugs? The employees that can't get enough sleep, but can't afford to miss work are the moms and dads who stay up all night watching their infants who are sick or teething etc. parents who have spouses who are deployed and have to watch the children by themselves, parents with spouses that are flight attendants and the list goes on and on.

No. I believe individuals fail to pay full time and attention to their job and surroundings. They are easily distracted and that is the main contributing factor in experiencing numerous injuries.

It seems to me that there is a small percentage of individuals that are not really engaged in life and seem to wander aimlessly day to day not really taking anything seriously. They tend to have an attitude of whatever happens to me is out of my control and so why should I fight it. On the other hand, I believe people that live their lives with purpose (the majority) are more likely to be engaged and tend to take responsibility for everything in their lives including their own safety.

I think there are a couple reasons some people are more "prone" to be injured than others. The first factor is some people are just more self aware than others and understand risk sometimes at an early age. Why are some children more protective of their siblings and others want to nothing more than use them as a bunching bag or a lab rat. We all knew the kids that took more risks than others growing up trying to push the envelope by seeing what they could "get away with" and we also knew kids that were the sensible ones that mom liked us to hang out with. Secondly the poor health of our nations general population is driving up injuries. As a kid in the 70's I was active constantly (even being overweight most of my life). Walking, biking, baseball games, playing outside made our muscles stronger. Youth of the last almost twenty years are sedentary. Games like X-Box, Play Station, Wii, take real activity that we used to enjoy outdoors and actually doing and turn it into a virtual game. No need to actually golf when I can be Tiger Woods! There hasn't been an extensive ergonomics study of the physiology of bone and muscle structure since the 1980's. I am guessing that the average 20 year old male today has the body of a 30 year old from 1980. Obesity is at an all time high. That means a worker is already putting stress on their backs, knees, and other joints before they ever take a job that is physically demanding. Total Worker Health is the only way companies will move the needle on WC in the future. Making it profitable to be healthy.

I believe all individuals are as safe as they practice safety. Safety is like any other event, you get out of it what you put into it. If you practice safety you will be safe. If you choose to not recognize safe work habits then you will be unsafe. To me there is no such thing as an individual being more injury prone then someone else. That injury prone person just does not care about their individual safety or does not focus on their individual safety.

Some people are just more careful than others. Some of it is taught and some is just in their genes.

They just lack situational awareness - and they put themselves in risk prone situations as a result.

February 28,2017 There are quite a number of factors that may determine the cause of an incident or accidents firstly depending on the safety culture of that particular orginization.It is a question of make or break and most importantly,management must play the leading role so that employee buy in.Age and demograghic background must not be ignored.

Assuming only good intentions, which is a statistically significant subset of the population, a person is only as safe as the process they are executing. When the process fails, they fail. Therefore, virtually everyone is required to solve unexpected problems with little or no credible reference. People are not equal in terms of their problem-solving capacity. Statistically, this results in higher failure rates for specific individuals through no malicious intent. The real question is whether training can improve this failure rate.

I believe that some individuals act more on impulse than strategically thinking out their actions, therefore the impulse driven employee may unintentionally be creating unsafe conditions for him/herself and be more injury prone.

What an interesting poll! In early 2000's, a team of French researchers conducted a study on "accident-proneness". Their findings were published sometime in late 2005/early 2006 concluding that certain tendencies lead to an increase in accidents/injuries; youth (younger workers tend to have a complex of invincibility as well as....), inexperience on the job, dissatisfaction with the job (indicated by applying for a job transfer or new position), having no safety training, having a sleep disorder/lack of sleep, smoking (distraction or health issues - ??? - you decide), and getting little or no exercise were all related to suffering more accidental injuries. There appeared to another factor as well: Not having a personal hobby (something outside of work to complete a well-rounded life - such as gardening or athletics). Let's call this group Cat 1. Interestingly around the same time, a team of British researchers studied just the opposite: why are some people NOT prone to accidents or injuries. They identified three key personality traits of people who are not accident-prone: openness: (learn from experience and are open to suggestions from others), dependability (conscientious and socially responsible), and agreeableness (not aggressive or self-centered. Let's refer to this group as Cat 2. So then it begs the question: can an organization take a candidate from Cat 1 (accident prone) and transform them into Cat 2 (not prone to accidents or injuries)? Is it worth a company's time/money to do so OR should HR just try to weed out as many of Cat 1's as possible? How does your company handle this, when you see a Cat 1 pattern emerging? Several large organizations I’ve worked for in the past do nothing: afraid of law suits and discrimination claims (even though un-biased evidence indicates a tendency for accidental injury). Just curious.

Some folks simply lack a normal amount of common sense, some suffer from an inability to concentrate and still others have an "arrogance" that keeps them from improving or learning. Some people have medical reasons (both known and unknown) that are mild or slight, usually in the mental capacities, that unfortunately hinder their perceptions or ability to focus. Improvements CAN be made for many of these unfortunates, but then, that IS our challenge as Safety Professionals, isn't it?

I believe some people are more injury prone because they are less attentive to their surroundings and therefore don't take actions necessary to keep themselves safe (situational awareness).

I think it is a matter of attitude as well as knowledge and experience. To some individuals, working safely is viewed as uncool for a variety of reasons. It is generally a learned attitude that is very much outdated now that we have the knowledge and tools to provide more options to avoid accidents, illnesses, and injuries. It has been my experience that attitudes can change but sometimes at much too great a cost. This is why I am happy to work in an environment where stepping up and saying something when unsafe acts are observed is not only considered professional and smart, it is expected of each and every one of us. Leadership is also a big part of behavior modeling and managers and supervisors need to set examples and take prompt corrective actions when they see unsafe or incorrect behavior. I don't see this happening a lot.

The synonyms for prone are willing, liable, apt, given, inclined, likely.....ask for volunteers and no one is willing to get hurt. People who act without thinking, get hurt. They don't get hurt more than others just for existing. It's time those with more accidents than others take responsibility for their actions and stop looking for an excuse such as "I'm just accident prone" or we as Safety Professionals state "they are just accident prone". The term "accident prone" is an excuse for poor judgement on any given moment.

Just as written in the preable to the ACGIH TLV Guide Book, the TLVs are intended to address health hazards for most workers... not all. There are some odd balls out there, that exposures at lower levels will result in a adverse health effects when compared to the typical dose vs response chart for most exposed workers. There are some workers who exhibit poor behavioral safety practices no matter what one does to instill those positive behaviors. They refuse to accept that their own practices are less safe than those demonstrated to reduce the risk of injury. Then there is the atypical factor... what I like to term, "have you ever seen Steven Seagal running on film where he is shown below the waist?' Well he isn't ever shown that way, because he doesn't run like a running back or track star, he runs like typical quarter back. .. a bit sissy looking for a male film action star. They are some workers, who by genetic design are a bit awkward performing certain tasks... this awkwardness exposes them to risks that could be overlooked, because they happen to be the oddball. Most tools and operating equipment is based upon the assumption that the operator is right-handed... left-handedness, in some rare cases, may expose an operator to potential risks than right-handed operators are quite unaware of. There are physical differences between people that also can cause a propensity for ergonomic injuries. According to BIFMA, most desk heights were designed based on anthropometric data based upon the std height of men of around 5'9". (The old US Army tables on the volumes of recruits were often used as a reference by designers since WWII.) What happens to those of lesser or greater physical stature? Increasingly designers are looking at fitting the work environment to the worker in the USA as they have been required to do in the European Union, since 1995 with height adjustable working surfaces and fully ergonomic seating. As professionals, we strive to design out risks to Best Industry Practice standards and instill positive safety behaviors to all workers as part of corporate culture. Our goal ideally is to provide a climate where any worker will do the right thing; i.e., exercise safety correct behaviors, even when no one is watching them! Changing corporate culture needs to be both top-down and bottom-up to be effective or the mixed message will continue to propagate those bad safety habits far longer in the workforce.

I am seeing a trend that is alarming! I work in a manufacturing environment & our "younger" workers are being injured. A different breed of workers, ones that never worked in the shop or garage with their dads, brothers, etc. Without that experience, they have trouble "spotting" potential hazards when performing different tasks.

No. After 30 years of EH&S application I don't believe properly trained workers are prone, or personally oriented, to more injury. I see workers who, at the point of decision, make bad risk assessments or mitigation decisions based on the circumstances they recognize. Often that can be impacted by fatigue, an argument at home, cost or schedule, etc. but basically they don't recognizing a risk factor and/or choose to ignore it for expediency's sake at the cost of doing what's safe.

unsafe act and unsafe working condition are the two major cause of accident.an employee who work in an unsafe working condition is more prone to injury compare to an employee whose working condition is safe.going by this,i think some workers are more injury prone than others.more so,the type of work an employee does is also a factor.example,an employee in construction industry is more suspectible to injury compare to one who works in a hotel.

As a safety professional who is also accident prone, I feel that I can directly address this question. I was the child who frequently walked into walls or banged my hands on doorways. I tripped on the stairs and could fall while walking for no apparent reason. I attribute these tendencies to what we now call situational awareness. My mom just said that I had a lot going on in my head and I lost track of the world around me. As an adult I have to work hard to avoid doing the same things but I have to work at it where I feel most people do it naturally. And I still frequently bang my hands on desks as I walk through the office but I am able to focus in areas of the workplace where I am aware of more dangers.

Employees that appear to be prone to injury, are not so because of physical defects, or weaker structure; but root within the lack of knowledge of at-risk behaviors that bring about injury producing incident(s). Namely, through old training habits, life interference's within the psyche, and the failure to identify and modify the at-risk events. The human element in relation to safety is one that is often overlooked and cultured into bad habits (e.g. fostered risk personal), it is not that individuals want to be injured, but more so, believe that tasks at hand need to be accomplished as quickly as possible (e.g. various intrinsic reasons, internal and external paradigms) with disregard to at- risk behaviors from those peripheral pressures to accomplish production. It is precipitated normality of repetitiveness “at-risk behavior on steroids”, produced by personality traits and bad safety habits that drives these individuals to be at greater risk. Consequently, by instituting a safety program built by developing a safety culture not a flavor of the week, by generating proper Job Hazard Analyses and identification of seen and unseen hazards through collaborative means and communicating these hazards to the “Fostered Risk Personal”, will break the chain of bad behaviors and lessen the at-risk actions within the workplace not just for the high risk but every employee.

Some are not able to maintain focus. Their mind wanders uncontrollably.

While I do believe some are just accident prone, I believe they are few. The majority of the time, it is an employee not paying attention and or not doing as instructed. For example, grabbing a pallet, but not looking where you are grabbing and getting a nail in your hand. Trying to carry more than one of something because you are too lazy to make another trip. Sitting on the rollers of a tape machine that is still turned on with jacket tied around your waist that gets pulled into the conveyor. There are a lot more that are just careless than just prone to accidents. In my opinion.

Not injury prone, just focused on a different task. Like the those who read and walk

Over the age of 46 individuals start to degenerate causing weakness in knees and legs. Some are over weight and may not be in good of shape as others and this could lead to them becoming more injury prone than others.

The aging workforce are getting MSD disorders and repetitive motion disorders, and many ergonomics strains and pains.

"Injury-prone" is a very inexact term. You will find in almost any company that most of the injuries occur to a small group of employees (80-20 rule). But the reasons for this are varied. Undiagnosed or mis-diagnosed medical conditions often surface as reported work injuries. Poor training and inadequate on-boarding processes will lead to clusters of injuries in new hires. Lack of control of substance abuse issues in the work place will lead to clusters of injuries in that population. Failure of a company to match the intellectual demands of a job with the cognitive abilities of the employees will lead to problems there. And a failure to understand the risk tolerances of employees and install adequate processes and controls to prevent excessive risk-taking will result in a disproportionately high injury rate amongst those risk-takers. But are people out there walking around with an "injury-prone" gene or trait? No.

I definitely believe it. I see it everyday, those guys who don't believe it can happen to them - won't accept new ways of doing things. These are the folks who won't wear their PPE because "they don't need it for their work" "it's not comfortable" {which is bull, comfort is at an all time high in safety PPE} "it's not convenient or they didn't have it with them" {again, why not? PPE should always be the 1st thing you grab when you go out!} You watch in dismay when you see them out not using the correct traffic control, or safety procedures, taking short cuts and sometimes TEACHING the shortcuts to new employees - it's heartbreaking and disheartening. Supervisors who believe in the old ways and won't accept new methods - or worse, supervisors who encourage bad behavior - and along with bad safety officers, put their employees in harms way because "getting the job done is 1st priority - no matter the physical cost to the employee or section." And, that is just outright dangerous! BUT, then you get the employee who believes in the program - who not only takes care of himself, but watches out and protects his fellows. The one who brings extra water, knows who on his crew has medical issues and watches over them, who always has extra PPE in his go bag and will share it. The one who listens in the tailgate meeting, participates in the safety meeting, learns from the safety training and your faith in human nature is restored. Those are the folks who make the job worthwhile - the ones that lift the spirit and makes it all worth it!

Usually it's due to either fatigue or rushing to get their work done.

Many, if not most accidents in my opinion are the result of either inattention (distractions) or rushing. There are people that, due to their particular life situations and events, are more prone to being distracted both on and off the job. Every person is different in how they handle their thoughts and emotions, and when people are emotional they tend to be distracted more easily. There is no cure-all for this, but stress reduction programs may help people navigate their emotional landscape better. Rushing is a problem shared by both workers and management. Workers can work more efficiently to relieve some of the need for rushing, but management also needs to acknowledge the laws of physics, and to make work loads appropriate for the available time to do a job.

In my 37 year career I have personally identified individuals who deliberately reported fake injuries. I have also met and treated individuals who were really injured, almost always a minor injury, repeatedly. Commonly, they seemed to have been brought up in an atmosphere where there was an immediate response from Mom that supported and reinforced the idea the injury wasn't their fault, it was something else. They were not responsible and couldn't prevent it. They still had that attitude.

individual workers are simply (and unintentionally) more injury-prone than others. When they fit the categories below. 1) - New and not experienced, with the construction world working in Chemical Plants, Refineries and Paper Mills, Steel Mills Etc. . This is a world of opportunities, and many ways to be hurt that are so different than at home 2) - Some experience with the attitude this cannot happen to me. 3) - Well experienced employees their mind on something away from the job

Accident prone is another name for ambitious. From the time my little brother was born he was classified as accident prone, dare-devil and several other doctor's labels. The bottom line was he needed to harness his gusto and find the proper outlet for his brain and body. The Military became his outlet and today he is very safe and successful.

I do not believe individuals are injury prone. If a person has multiple incidents it is due to the following factors. Not Physically Capable To Perform The Work Not Properly Trained Not issued or not wearing PPE Choosing To Not Follow Rules or Procedures

Some people have not developed the habit of paying attention to their situations and surroundings. They have either been lucky or just have not analyzed why things happen to them. In our location, we have asked every employee to look around and note others' behaviors, to note unsafe behaviors, to follow up with the employees or their supervisors, and to document the observation. This is now a monthly requirement, and our conformance rate is above 99%. There are just over 300 employees in this program. The observation, coupled with respectful interaction, has increased people's situational awareness some. It will be a slow process, but we believe it will have lasting results. In our safety training, we discussed the "accident prone" individual, including why he/she might be that way, and what he/she can do about it. A number of years ago, a seasoned mechanic (54 years old at the time) was repeatedly having small incidents. We worked with him and observed his work behavior in a program I had used at a previous company. Since then, that employee has worked 3 years without a first aid incident. He praised the program, and wrote a short essay for us to share with the rest of the employees. He is one of several employees who have successfully To summarize: some people are "accident prone", because they have not developed the habit of safety awareness, but can be educated or trained to lose that lack of awareness with assistance and motivation.

Some people have a different sense of safety awareness which makes them more prone to accidents. The thought of being proactive with the task at hand is one of the issues, the what if theory is not thought of before and when doing the job. As a safety director and being in safety for 30 years you kind of know the people you need to spend a little extra time with. Its not that they are bad people or not trained, its just they way they are and we need to ensure they are trained and work safely.

I have observed in over 20 years of addressing employee injuries that some folks appear to get their needs met through injury. I doubt they are conscious of their maladaptive approach to receiving caring attention. They are often have more than one injury. They don't take the normal precautions, exaggerate their injury, and seem to need extra stroking because they were injured on the job.

It is inherent that some individuals will remain "clueless" about certain issues, including safety functions. No amount of training or coaching will make certain individuals improved performers. I believe that it boils down to common sense thinking and situational awareness. Some people are born with it, some can improve in these areas but the reality is, some will never get it. These are the individuals that are the greatest liability to an organization.

Some employees are oblivious to the hazards around this and fail to recognize hazards.

I don't believe that accidents just happen to people because of fate or bad luck, whatever you want to call it. There is "almost" always some break down in procedural or safety execution by the victim or others or both.

no

The overwhelming number of injuries and illnesses at work are due to conditions controlled by the employer.

I believe that most accidents are preventable, after reading several post I believe everybody can have an accident because of incidents. I consider myself to be careful and mindful of my surroundings but that does not mean that a plane will not fall from the sky and kill me tonight while I am sleeping (this would be an accident due to an incident). I consider myself as careful, yet I have managed to loose every fingernail on one hand within 3 years and can not attribute any to being tired, not paying attention or anything other than not performing the task that caused the accident to keep it from occurring. I do not know of a carpenter that has not hit his finger with a hammer at least once, this is their profession and many are mindful of safety and believe this is just one of the hazards of their job. Depending on what people do, how often they are exposed will dictate the likelihood of an accident and other factors such as sleep deprivation, mind not on task will increase the frequency.

One must not assume that the accident was human error and therefore worker blame or discipline is the corrective action. This approach will never identify the root cause of an accident or the corrective actions that could prevent a re-occurrence of the incident or accident. Assuming human error is designed to blame workers and shift responsibility away from management and the employer, despite the legal responsibility under law that states the employer must do their due diligence and take every precaution to protect the health and safety of workers. Every injury and illness is caused by an exposure to a hazard. Hazards include any aspect of technology or activity that produces risk. Hazards vary in the level of risk. The level of risk is determined by the severity and the probability of the occurrence. The best method of selecting controls to minimize risk associated with any hazard is known as the “Hierarchy of Controls”. It recognizes the most effective way in preventing or reducing exposures. Real solutions are responsible, progressive action through the workplace Joint Health and Safety Committees to address accidents and exposures and recommend practical prevention solutions such as Job Safety Analysis and comprehensive on-the-job training.

Workers who work two jobs are dangerous to themselves and others. They may resort to unauthorized breaks and use drugs In hot environments .more .accidents to sleepy co-workers.