I do not believe that a month has past where I did not make the statement that “every accident is preventable.” I am sure that I agree with this; if you say something enough times eventually you do come to believe it. But is this really an accurate declaration?

Safety personnel always find this coming up in conversations with employees, usually after the preventable just took place. The Law of Cause & Effect (also known as the law of action and reaction) states “this is an orderly universe. There are no accidents. Everything happens for a reason. For every effect there is a set of causes.” This seems simple enough. Let’s see how it applies to every day actions.

A man walking on a sidewalk is hit by a car that jumps the curve. He was doing what he anticipated to be a safe action; the sidewalk is for pedestrians and the road is for the automobiles. This is an accident to him; however, the driver of the car could have certainly prevented the

accident by paying closer attention,

saying “no” to that last beer, staying within the speed limit, etc. In this case, prevention was not within the control of the man who was hit, but it was reasonable. Look at your own work place or home accidents and ask “how was this preventable”, not “was this preventable.”

As employers, we make every effort to give our employees the tools to succeed. These tools may be tangible, such as new equipment or safety glasses. But more importantly, they need to have and retain the knowledge to work safely and see the big picture. A dust mask will help prevent dust from getting into your respiratory tract. Minimizing the amount of dust through ventilation or wetting will remove the hazard and is the safer choice. Preventing accidents is achieved by removing their causes; this I do believe.