Systems of Safety and Active Worker-Participation Strategies for a Safe Workplace:The Philosophical and Structural Underpinnings of the Labor Institute’sAccident Prevention Programs

摘要

The Labor Institute, in cooperation with the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and EnergyWorkers International Union (PACE) and several other international unions, has been applyingSystems of Safety (SOS) concepts to hazardous industrial settings for the last eight years. TheLabor Institute’s SOS framework is an advanced analytical and practical accident preventionconcept. Based on a “non-blame” systematic approach, it identifies major categories of safetysystems and sub-systems and assigns a hierarchical prevention value to each category. ApplyingSOS concepts through incident investigation, near-miss reporting and “Latent Systems FailuresIdentification” programs (a non-exhaustive list), provides unparalleled opportunities for reducingboth the frequency and severity of accidents and incidents.But sophisticated technical programs based in SOS frameworks are not enough. To achieve“maximum prevention” of workplace accidents requires the active participation of the mainstakeholders, the workers who perform the work. Review of relevant literature supports the thesisthat worker participation is the key to achieving prevention. Therefore, we assert that “maximumprevention” is only achievable through “maximum worker participation.” This paper will explorebarriers to achieving “maximum worker participation” at the worksite, successful strategies forempowering workers as SOS activists, and SOS-based programs designed specifically tomaximize worker involvement.