PSYCH-105 Industrial Psychology
Chapter 13: Accident and Safety
Unit 1
Unit 2
Unit 3
Unit 4
Appendix
INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS
Meaning
An industrial accident is an unexpected occurrence in an industrial establishment causing bodily injury to one or more people.
Under the Indian factory act 1948, an industrial accident has been defined as “an occurrence in an industrial establishment causing bodily injury to a person which makes him unfit to resume his duties in next 48 hours”.
Types of Accidents
Accidents can be classified as:
I | Major Accident resulting in death or prolonged disability | Minor Not a severe one but resulting in only a cut or very temporary injury |
II | External If the accident results in an injury which can be observed from the outside such as cut etc. it is an external injury | Internal An injury such as fracture or cramp etc. which shows no signs of injury from outside |
III | Permanent When one cannot recover fully from the disability, it is a permanent accident | Temporary When the accident cause injury which could be cured in a period of time from a day to months, disability is temporary in nature |
IV | Fatal Accident resulting in loss of life | Non fatal Accident not resulting in loss of life |
Effect of Accidents
- Pain, damage or even death to an individual
- Brings down the moral of workers
- Even a minor accident leads to a temporary halt of work or wastage of time for worker and organization
- Severe accidents may cause stopping of production
- Economically expensive to the organization. It involves two components:
- Direct – in the form of compensations or medical expenses to the employee or his family members
- Indirect – due to temporary halting of work, slowing down of production, material spoiled, emotional affect on the co-workers, customers lost due to non completion of orders on time etc.
