Using information systems to structurally map workplace injury

Previous authors have identified mechanical, human and work organisation factors that may contribute to accident occurrences and have noted the value of site-specific data in accident analysis. However, major criticisms of site specific safety information systems have focused on the difficulties using traditional approaches for the identification of critical paths involving processes related to injury and non-injury incidents. This paper presents an idiographic approach to the study of accidents and through contextual analysis develops maps of work processes related to injury incidents in mining. The information used in the contextual maps includes data related to work area, activity and work role being performed, and equipment being used at the time of the injury incident. The computer algorithm consists of a series of contextual conditionals where the incidents and lost days recorded in the final category of each pathway meet all of the conditionals of the previous categories. The order of selection indicates the criticality of the path. The analysis resolves the processes related to the incident into their constitutive components, and then redescribes these processes as paths in order to reveal associations. These contextual paths illustrate the processes which are part of an established pattern of recurring regularities associated with injury incidents.