The occurrence and Determinants of Accidents: a Case - Control Study among Wor Kers in the Assab Port.
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Date
1988-02
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Addis Abeba Universty
Abstract
The h igh incidence of accidents related to the port in the
(( w rojo of Assab, during 7986-87 led to a mare detailed observation
and analysis of accidents in the part of Assab in 7987 .
Same 6,500 workers are employed in the port of Assab, but
of these 570 (8.8. %) are lis ted as " nan- indus trial", or are employed
an work that is unlikely to bring them into contact with industrial
hazards. The r emainder 5,930 (97. 2% ), were an the list of the
four departments principally concerned with industrial work.
Th is number was made up of 5725 (96.5%) males, and 205 (3.5%)
females.
To describe the occurrence and determinants of accidents
among workers in the port of Assab, a one con trol per case (247
pairs) study, matched on the basis of their similarity with respect
to the selected variables was designed . The study was conducted
over a 55 days period, from October 76, 7987 to December 9,
7987 .
The total number of accidents that occurred among workers
exposed to the risk of accidents in the port of A ssab were 247
(4.7 %) ,giving a rate of 8.2 accidents per 700,000 worked man-hours,
40.6 accidents per 7, 000 exposed workers or 2. 03 accidents per
7 00 employee - months .
The real highest department rate of accidents was produced
by the departmet of Haleb boaty(uJ construction projec t with
an accident rate of 75.5 per 7 00, 000 man-hours, 77.8 per 7, 000
exposed workers or 3 . 9 per 700 employee - months.
No significant difference was noted in the rate of accidents
among the worker's categories labeled as skilled, unskilled and
apprentice.
The occident frequency was highest on Mondays and fell
to its lowest level at mid-week, with an increase once more on
Saturdays. The frequency rate of accidents was observed to
be highest in the period of the second shift (8 p . m to 4 p. m)
with on accident rate of 10.6 per 100,000 worked man- hours,
50.4 per 1,000 workers at risk, or 2. 52 per 100 employee-months .
T his is probably due to the peak environmental temperature occurring
in the second shift.
Analysis of man-days lost showed, 1,571 total man days to
be los t due to the 241 accidents over a period of 55 days. The
average man-days lost per accident works out to 6 . 5, the range
being from a to 91 days. The rate of seriousness in Assab
port study was 0.5, and the index of seriousness was found to
be 0.3.
Analysis of the cost of accidents showed 31,606 birr, the
average being 131.2 birr per occident to be spent over the 55
days. This cost is only for the medical and man-days lost expenses
and does not include the insurance payments and other indirec t
cos ts.
Analysis of accidents by category of causation showed both
the environmental and human factors to be involved in 57% of
the accidents . In 25 . 7% it was the environmental factor alone,
and in 16.6% the human factor alone.
Among the causes by environmental factors, the most frequent
causes were: defects in agencies (35. 2%) hazardous methods
or procedures (22. 5%), and placement hazards ( 22. q%).
Among the causes by the human factors, the most frequent
were = inatten tion to footing or surroundings (18. q%), improper
use of hands or body ports (18%), and failure to wear safe personal
attire (12.3%) . The main determinants identified for the human
factors ' from this study are; age of the worker, educational status
of the worker, job title of the worker, experience of the worker
in the port of Assab, and work shift of the worker. Thus the
risk groups identified for the epidemiology of accidents in the
port of Assab include: port workers between the ages of 18-2q
years, port workers with no formal education , Port workers
classified as fI electricians, welders, plumbers, and carpenters fl. ,
and port workers who are employed to work in the second shift.
From the findings of this study, the recommendations given
are:-
I. A firm and well defined policy.
2. Employment of a fUlltime safety Officer in the port.
3. Formation and Organization of a safety committee in the
port.
q. Introduction of on effective investigation and recording
system of accidents in the Assab port.
5. To adopt a systematic inspection and follow - up system
by various level of personnel, till all the environmental
factors identified as a couse of accidents in
the Assab port are rectified, and
J
6. Strong efforts in the areas of safety training and
education, safety supervision and safety communication
to the risk groups identified are necessary to effectively
reduce the accidents resulting from the human factors
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Keywords
The occurrence and Determinants