Event recap - The AusIMM Health & Safety Society Distinguished Lecture Series – Orange
The Lachlan Branch invites you to hear from distinguished speaker Michael Quinlan on “10 Pathways to Death and Disaster” on Thursday 27th February 2020.
The topic of Michael’s presentation will be based on his book “10 Pathways to Death and Disaster”.
About the Speaker:
Michael Quinlan PhD is an emeritus professor in the School of Management at UNSW where he taught occupational health and safety (OHS) and risk management.
He is also an honorary professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Sydney and an adjunct professor in the Business School at Middlesex University, London.
About the Topic:
Why do mine disasters continue to occur in wealthy countries when major mine hazards have been known for over 200 years and subject to regulation for well over a century?
What lessons can be drawn from these disasters and are mine operators, regulators and others drawing the correct conclusions from such events?
Why is mining significantly safer in some countries than in others?
Are the underlying causes of disasters substantially different from those that result in one or two fatalities?
This book seeks to answer these questions by systematically analysing mine disasters and fatal incidents in five countries (Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and the USA) since 1992. It finds that there are 10 pattern causes which repeatedly recur in these incidents, namely:
- engineering, design and maintenance flaws,
- failure to heed warning signs,
- flaws in risk assessment,
- flaws in management systems,
- flaws in system auditing,
- economic/reward pressures compromising safety,
- failures in regulatory oversight,
- worker/supervisor concerns that were ignored,
- poor worker/management communication and trust, and
- flaws in emergency and rescue procedures.
The vast majority of incidents entailed at least three of these pattern causes and many exhibited five or more. The book also demonstrates these pattern deficiencies are not confined to mining but can be identified in other workplace disasters including aircraft crashes, oil-rig explosions, refinery and factory fires, and shipping disasters. At the same time, the examination finds no evidence to support other popular explanations of mine safety.