Blog Post #325 – Treat an Incident like an Accident

This will be my last blog for the year and I wanted to make this one a little more personal.

Angela and I went out for dinner the other night and a minor incident took place. A large plastic snowflake fell onto one of the tables where, just a few moments earlier, a large family was sitting. I went over to the broken snowflake, picked up most of the pieces and called over the nearest waitress. An explanation was given that Angela and I are health and safety professionals and suggested that the issue should be handled the same as an accident would have. As I mentioned to the waitress, the incident barely missed the family by only a few minutes. I also mentioned that there were five or six other snowflakes hanging in the restaurant and the same thing could happen to one of them with much direr consequences.

The immediate root cause seemed to be a withered elastic band. The band was unable to hold up the excess weight as it began drying up. The intermediate causes may be something else so we recommended that the restaurant take steps prevent a recurrence by completing and accident/incident report.

The restaurant is one of my favourites so it would break my heart to see it go through a Ministry of Labour investigation when one of the Christmas ornaments possibly dropped onto an unsuspecting customer.

In closing,

HRS Group wishes everyone a safe and prosperous 2013. We survived the Mayan ‘End of the World’ predication so let us continue our good luck and make 2013 the safest year yet.

Remember — In Ontario, “ALL Accidents are Preventable”

HRS Group Inc. has a great team that can help you with all your health and safety needs including ‘Due Diligence’ and ‘Standard Operating Procedures’. Contact Deborah toll free at 1-877-907-7744 or locally at 705-749-1259.

We can also be reached at 

‘Work’ and ‘Play’ safe.

Daniel L. Beal
CHSEP – Foundation Level
VP & Senior Trainer
HRS Group Inc.