Another EMT here. The vast majority of the time it happens because of two mistakes, people almost never get seriously injured because of one thing, it is usually “I disabled or ignored this one safety step, then I got distracted for a second at the wrong time” or something similar. Could be alcohol, could be laziness, could be pressure to finish something for a boss that doesn’t care.
Safety is typically defense in depth, and one failure isn’t enough to cause a major issue.
In aviation, this is called an “error chain.” It’s one of the concepts taught in ground school. Human error is a frequent element of accidents, so there is a focus on training pilots to find & fix mistakes early to “break” the “error chain” and prevent disaster.
Oh I agree, those are generally the base errors. People are stupid and do a lot of stupid things and disable safety devices or ignore safety protocols. I can remember scraping 4 fingers out of a 40 ton punch press with a putty knife, (it was handy), at an industrial accident with a putty knife. He had wired a safety latch back. Both of the lawnmower fatalities were caused by operating a heavy riding mower going across a steep side hill. The mowers rolled and crushed and suffocated the operators.
As a medic, I made my living dealing with everyone else’s stupid actions.
Another EMT here. The vast majority of the time it happens because of two mistakes, people almost never get seriously injured because of one thing, it is usually “I disabled or ignored this one safety step, then I got distracted for a second at the wrong time” or something similar. Could be alcohol, could be laziness, could be pressure to finish something for a boss that doesn’t care.
Safety is typically defense in depth, and one failure isn’t enough to cause a major issue.
Tho, there are MAJOR exceptions.
In aviation, this is called an “error chain.” It’s one of the concepts taught in ground school. Human error is a frequent element of accidents, so there is a focus on training pilots to find & fix mistakes early to “break” the “error chain” and prevent disaster.
Oh I agree, those are generally the base errors. People are stupid and do a lot of stupid things and disable safety devices or ignore safety protocols. I can remember scraping 4 fingers out of a 40 ton punch press with a putty knife, (it was handy), at an industrial accident with a putty knife. He had wired a safety latch back. Both of the lawnmower fatalities were caused by operating a heavy riding mower going across a steep side hill. The mowers rolled and crushed and suffocated the operators.
As a medic, I made my living dealing with everyone else’s stupid actions.
I just noticed the pun.