Could ‘Zero Harm’ be killing our people?

"In recent years, there has been widespread adoption of the notion of 'Zero Harm'. Zero incidents, zero accidents, zero harm, zero tolerance – the goal is zero," said Byard.
"Moral outrage would ensue if any legislation considered any level of workplace personal damage acceptable. The concept of ‘Zero Harm’ may be socially, politically and legally attractive but is the concept of ‘Zero Harm’ helpful? Is it possible that we are managing what matters least?"
Damage creates a hierarchy of consequences, according to Byard, who noted that fatalities are a higher-level consequence than first aid treatments.
"The impact of a fatality on lives, families, organisations and communities is significantly greater than a scratch on a hand," he said.
Additionally, the number of occurrences for higher levels of damage is much smaller than the number of occurrences for lower levels of damage.
"Fatalities are few in number but have highest level consequence. First aid treatments are many in number but have lowest level actual consequences. In its purest form, ‘Zero Harm’ ignores all this."
Byard classifies the consequence of injury into three classes, as follows:

Class I Damage: permanently alters a person's future
The person is unable to fully return to work, or life, regardless of medical or surgical intervention. Damaging occurrences in Class I include multiple fatalities, single fatalities and permanently disabling outcomes, or Non Fatal Permanent Damage (NFPD) such as amputations, impaired backs or shoulders, or psychological disturbance.

Class II Damage: temporarily alters a person's future
The person is able to fully return to work and life after appropriate medical intervention. The body has the capability of complete functional restoration. Typical injuries include broken bones, lacerations, or strained muscles.

Class III Damage: only inconveniences a person
Persons are quickly able to return to work and life. Class III Damage includes minor cuts, bruises or abrasions. In many cases, people continue to work and live with Class III Damage without medical intervention. In some cases application of ice or a band-aid simply speeds up recovery.

Pointing to statistics released this year by the Australian Safety Compensation Council, Byard said that in 2005/06, Class I Permanent Damage represented only 10 per cent of the captured incidents but 90 per cent of captured costs to employers, employees and the community.
"A Pareto or 80/20 relationship exists. Current classification systems based on lost time injuries (LTIs) and treatment regimes do not clearly focus efforts and resources towards permanently life altering outcomes."
"Most government jurisdictions and organisations measure workplace safety performance by lag indicators of fatalities and LTIs. Many organisations report their success by frequency rates associated with these measures. But, as Einstein said, 'Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted'.
Driving employers to reduce their Lost Time Injury Frequency Rates (LTIFR) will predictably focus organisational efforts and strategies on reducing the majority of LTIs, which are short duration Class II damaging occurrences.

* Phillip Byard is one of 50 expert speakers who will address The Safety Conference from October 27th to 29th at the Sydney Showground.
For more information, visit: www.thesafetyshow.com