Accident Proneness: Research in the Occurrence, Causation, and Prevention of Road Accidents deals with concept of accident proneness. The concept has had a checkered career, from the early British work whose high scientific standard has been universally acknowledged, through a period when the concept was extended beyond the sound basis which had been laid, to a period of reaction when doubt was thrown on the very existence of such a notion. The book examines in detail the arguments brought forward by the proponents of both sides, and, more importantly, studies in detail the facts and figures quoted in support. The book is organized into two sections: the first deals with the validity and usefulness of the concept of accident proneness; the second discusses new statistical techniques to evaluate the concept of accident proneness. The book demonstrates the existence of personality-related behavior patterns, which make people differentially prone to traffic accidents. This book is an important contribution to an important field. It is written in a style which should make it understandable (and even enjoyable) to more than the psychological experts to whom it is addressed in the first place.

Technology demands uniformity from human beings who encounter it. People encountering technology, however, differ from one another. Thinkers in the early twentieth century, observing the awful consequences of interactions between humans and machines—death by automobiles or dismemberment by factory machinery, for example—developed the idea of accident proneness: the tendency of a particular person to have more accidents than most people. In tracing this concept from its birth to its disappearance at the end of the twentieth century, Accident Prone offers a unique history of technology focused not on innovations but on their unintended consequences. Here, John C. Burnham shows that as the machine era progressed, the physical and economic impact of accidents coevolved with the rise of the insurance industry and trends in twentieth-century psychology. After World War I, psychologists determined that some people are more accident prone than others. This designation signaled a shift in social strategy toward minimizing accidents by diverting particular people away from dangerous environments. By the 1960s and 1970s, however, the idea of accident proneness gradually declined, and engineers developed new technologies to protect all people, thereby introducing a hidden, but radical, egalitarianism. Lying at the intersection of the history of technology, the history of medicine and psychology, and environmental history, Accident Prone is an ambitious intellectual analysis of the birth, growth, and decline of an idea that will interest anyone who wishes to understand how Western societies have grappled with the human costs of modern life.

“Gripping, page-turning material . . . a new way of thinking about survival in a world filled with hazards and distractions.” —Charles Duhigg, author of Smarter Faster Better and The Power of Habit A safety expert reveals why few of us are as careful as we think we are, and what we can do about it. As doctors and medical researchers work busily to extend our lives, more people each year are figuring out ways to cut them short. In fact, after a hundred years of steady decline, the rate at which people are being injured (or worse) in everyday accidents is increasing. Blame car crashes, pedestrian fatalities, home-improvement projects gone wrong, medical mistakes, home fires—not to mention all the crazy things that kids are into these days. And the problem seems to be spinning out of control. Steve Casner has devoted his career to studying the psychology of safety, and he knows there’s not a safety warning we won’t ignore or a foolproof device we can’t turn into an implement of disaster. Casner details the psychological traps that prevent us from being more careful. They’re the same whether you’re a pilot, a Hollywood stuntwoman, a parent, or the owner of a clogged dishwasher you’re trying to fix with a screwdriver. Then he shows us gripping real examples of how and when injuries happen, so we know exactly what we should really be worrying about. Careful arms readers with the latest science on how our sometimes fallible minds work, with countless takeaways to incorporate at home, at work, and everywhere in between. This book will help us keep our fingers attached in the kitchen, our kids afloat at the pool, and our teens safe behind the wheel, and demonstrates the many other ways we can maximize our chances of getting through the day in one piece.

Human Performance provides the student and researcher with a comprehensive and accessible review of performance, in the real world and essential cognitive science theory. Four main sections cover both theoretical and practical issues: Section One outlines the perspectives on performance offered by contemporary cognitive science, including information processing and neuroscience perspectives. Section Two presents a multi-level view of the performer as biological organism, information-processor and intentional agent. It reviews the development of the cognitive theory of performance through experimental studies and also looks at practical issues such as human error. Section Three reviews the impact of stress factors such as noise, fatigue and illness on performance. Section Four assesses individual and group differences in performance with accounts of ability, personality and aging.

TRB's Commercial Truck and Bus Safety Synthesis Program (CTBSSP) Synthesis 4: Individual Differences and the "High-Risk" Commercial Driver explores individual differences among commercial drivers, particularly as these differences relate to the "high-risk" commercial driver. The synthesis identifies factors relating to commercial vehicle crash risk and assesses ways that the high-risk driver can be targeted by various safety programs and practices, at both fleet- and industry-wide levels.

Over the last three decades the process industries have grown very rapidly, with corresponding increases in the quantities of hazardous materials in process, storage or transport. Plants have become larger and are often situated in or close to densely populated areas. Increased hazard of loss of life or property is continually highlighted with incidents such as Flixborough, Bhopal, Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, the Phillips 66 incident, and Piper Alpha to name but a few. The field of Loss Prevention is, and continues to, be of supreme importance to countless companies, municipalities and governments around the world, because of the trend for processing plants to become larger and often be situated in or close to densely populated areas, thus increasing the hazard of loss of life or property. This book is a detailed guidebook to defending against these, and many other, hazards. It could without exaggeration be referred to as the "bible" for the process industries. This is THE standard reference work for chemical and process engineering safety professionals. For years, it has been the most complete collection of information on the theory, practice, design elements, equipment, regulations and laws covering the field of process safety. An entire library of alternative books (and cross-referencing systems) would be needed to replace or improve upon it, but everything of importance to safety professionals, engineers and managers can be found in this all-encompassing reference instead. Frank Lees' world renowned work has been fully revised and expanded by a team of leading chemical and process engineers working under the guidance of one of the world's chief experts in this field. Sam Mannan is professor of chemical engineering at Texas A&M University, and heads the Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center at Texas A&M. He received his MS and Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Oklahoma, and joined the chemical engineering department at Texas A&M University as a professor in 1997. He has over 20 years of experience as an engineer, working both in industry and academia. New detail is added to chapters on fire safety, engineering, explosion hazards, analysis and suppression, and new appendices feature more recent disasters. The many thousands of references have been updated along with standards and codes of practice issued by authorities in the US, UK/Europe and internationally. In addition to all this, more regulatory relevance and case studies have been included in this edition. Written in a clear and concise style, Loss Prevention in the Process Industries covers traditional areas of personal safety as well as the more technological aspects and thus provides balanced and in-depth coverage of the whole field of safety and loss prevention. * A must-have standard reference for chemical and process engineering safety professionals * The most complete collection of information on the theory, practice, design elements, equipment and laws that pertain to process safety * Only single work to provide everything; principles, practice, codes, standards, data and references needed by those practicing in the field

Occupational safety and health management theory is now rightly focused on pro-activity, risk assessment and management. But it remains important that organizations know what they need to do when accidents happen, both to comply with legislation and to extract all the information from the incident to improve their health and safety management. Tolley’s Workplace Accident Handbook presents in a single volume what needs to be done when an accident occurs – from emergency procedures and legal reporting requirements through to formal investigations and possible legal proceedings. In this new edition, chapters on first aid and accident investigation reports have been added and the rehabilitation chapter has been updated to cover the latest insurance industry initiatives. The Handbook also shows how to learn from the accident data gathered and how to implement recommendations into a company's health and safety management system. The text is supported by checklists, case studies and ready-to-use forms and templates. Health and Safety practitioners in all industries will find this Handbook is packed full of practical and legal advice. It will also be of use to lawyers dealing with accident claims, insurance risk managers, emergency planning, first aid, and enforcement officers, as well as to students on health and safety and specialist accident investigation courses. Mark Tyler is a Chartered Safety and Health Practitioner and a leading Solicitor in the area of health and safety law who has worked on numerous high profile cases such as rail crashes and legionnaires disease. His expertise is supplemented with the practical knowledge of other experts in their individual subject areas.