SERIOUS INJURIES & FATALITIES

The Heart of Safety Improvements Strategy

Articles Videos & Innovations

About ten years ago, we received a call from the corporate safety director of a global organization who was concerned about a disturbing pattern in their data: Recordable injuries were declining steadily, but serious and fatal injuries were level. They asked us to research potential causes for this difference and develop a new paradigm for understanding serious injuries and fatalities (SIFs). The analysis changed our thinking about how we approach serious injuries and fatalities. Most importantly, we began to see that safety leadership should begin with attention to SIFs.

“We need a new paradigm to understand and guide prevention efforts for SIFs.”

Tom Krause & Kristen Bell

7 Insights into Safety Leadership

“If you want to improve safety, start with leadership and work from there.”

Tom Krause & Kristen Bell

7 Insights into Safety Leadership

“Safety leadership should begin with attention to serious injuries and fatalities (SIFs).”

Tom Krause & Kristen Bell

7 Insights into Safety Leadership

ARTICLES On SERIOUS INJURIES & FATALITIES

Serious Injuries and Fatalities – The Fundamental Problem

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By Tom Krause
In this video, Dr. Tom Krause discusses the disturbing trend first discovered around 2010. While most companies had seen recordable injuries decline, serious and fatal injuries remained level.  Further, strategies that reduced smaller injuries did not have the same impact on serious injuries.  We must continue to rethink how we approach safety improvement in general, and the prevention of serious injuries and fatalities in particular.
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3 Questions Board Members Should Ask About Serious Injury and Fatality Prevention

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By Tom Krause
It was 1993 and Paul O’Neill was attending his first board meeting as a Director at one of the largest companies in the world. Just as the meeting was coming to a close, O’Neill asked, “Where is the safety report?” As the story goes, no safety report was planned but the question had profound effects. It set the company on the path to creating safety excellence and embedding safety as a cultural value. Board member influence can do that — uniquely — and it saves lives while creating business value.
Read More 3 Questions Board Members Should Ask About Serious Injury and Fatality Prevention

Does Focusing on SIFs Mean Ignoring Smaller Injuries?

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By Kristen Bell
In our book “7 Insights into Safety Leadership,” Tom Krause and I make the point that leaders should start with a focus on preventing serious injuries and fatalities (SIFs). What does it mean to focus on SIFs? What doesn’t it mean? Why is a SIF focus better? First, A Clarification Focusing on SIFs does not mean that smaller injuries are unimportant….
Read More Does Focusing on SIFs Mean Ignoring Smaller Injuries?

A New Paradigm in Addressing SIFs

In this video, Dr. Tom Krause explains why reducing smaller injuries in the work place won’t necessarily lead to a corresponding decrease in serious injuries and fatalities (SIFs), and discusses why each category needs to be addressed and understood in a different way.

About 10 years ago, we began to hear from clients who had been experiencing very low recordable injury rates over long periods of time, but who had been blindsided by a serious injury or fatality, or both. We observed that these were not isolated cases, they were part of a national trend in which recordable and lost time injuries were declining steadily year-to-year, while serious injuries and fatalities appeared to be level or in some cases increasing. We met with a group of seven global companies to see if we could understand the problem and develop strategies to address it. This collaborative effort generated new insights for the prevention of serious injuries and fatalities with huge implications for industry.

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Chapter 2: Safety Leadership Starts with Attention to Serious Injuries and Fatalities

The traditional view that preventing smaller injuries will lead to preventing larger ones has been shown to be false. The second insight into safety excellence is that safety leadership should begin with attention to serious injuries and fatalities (SIFs). In this chapter, you will find that the reason for this is strategic, compassionate, and research-based.

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