Causal theories of occupational accidents have changed a lot since the scientific study of safety emerged at the beginning of the last century. The primary focus at that time was technical measures to safeguard machinery. After the First World War attention was directed at the accident proneness of workers, leading to preventive strategies concerned with personnel selection, training and motivation (Hale & Hovden, 1998). In line with this early belief in the accident proneness of specific workers, some studies have found that individual characteristics such as personality traits correlate with occupational accidents (Clarke & Robertson, 2005; Frone, 1998; Hansen, 1989; Wallace & Vodanovich, 2003). However, the implementation of preventions strategies based on this assumption was the second least effective measure in a review of prevention programs (Guastello, 1993).
Select theme