Safety expert predicts accidents of the future
One of the UK's leading process safety experts says that human error is the most likely cause of industrial accidents in the next fifteen years. Professor Trevor Kletz OBE was speaking at the Institution of Chemical Engineers' (IChemE) Hazards conference, where over 300 international safety experts have gathered.
85-year-old Kletz who worked for chemical giants, ICI for over forty years as one of the UK's first process safety advisers, said that lessons from the past can highlight the likely problems of the future: "While designs may have changed, people have not. Do we make fewer mistakes than our parents or grandparents?"
"All errors are human errors. People have to decide what to do and how to do it. We must talk to each other about how to prevent accidents. Discussion is more effective than lecturing. In meetings, people should learn from incidents of the past and discuss with colleagues whether similar situations could arise in their work. If so, they must understand what has been done, or should be done, to prevent it," Kletz added.
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