Most injuries are preventable. People tend to blame their injuries on "accidents." However, when examining the causes of most accidents, it has been shown that accidents are actually the result of predictable and preventable occurrences.
Suppose someone is driving with bald tires. If one of the tires blows out causing the driver to lose control of the car and crash, this is not an accident. It's a predictable and preventable event.
To prevent injuries, people must accept responsibility for their actions and must take obvious steps to eliminate safety hazards.
For example, let's take "near misses." Near misses are something people tend to ignore. Someone might come close to cutting a finger off with a power saw and not think anything of it because they weren't actually injured. However, sometimes, it's just a fraction of an inch or a split second that separates the near miss from a serious injury. The next time that person might not be so lucky. Find out what caused the near miss and take proper action to prevent it from happening again.
Copyright 1997 Safety Health Publishing Inc.
Permission to print courtesy of Martin Lesperance, a fire fighter/paramedic and
author. Visit his Web site at www.safete.com online.