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For instance:

• Slippery surface due to oil spill on the floor
• Uneven floor surfaces, damaged mats, potholes on the floor or steep surfaces.

Underlying or Root Cause – Management failure

If you focus only on the immediate causes – i.e unsafe act or unsafe condition, there are
possibilities that the accident will happened again. Its indeed important that underlying or root
causes must be investigated to ensure that right controls are put in place to prevent accidents in
future.

Underlying / root causes – often failure from the management system

• Failure to monitor.
• Failure to provide training to the workers
• Inadequate risk assessment
• Lack of provision of suitable PPE
• No maintenance carried out for plant and machinery.
• Inadequate inspections.

For instance:

We have to know the reasons for immediate cause, why there is an oil spill on the floor? Further
identify the underlying or root causes for the oil spill, the introduction of new control measures
must prevent accidents happening again.

Step 3 – Identifying Suitable Control Measures

Identifying suitable control measures to address the
immediate and root-cause(s) of an incident are taken from
the hierarchy of controls and may include the following
remedial actions; eliminating hazards; substituting with less
hazardous materials; redesigning or modifying equipment or
tools; developing procedures; improving the competence of
affected workers; changing the frequency of use; using
personal protective equipment.

The timing and priority of any corrective action should be
based on the risk of reoccurrence involved. Consult with Marked walkway
workers in determining the recommended actions and
solutions wherever required.

In deciding which risk control measures to recommend and their priority, choose measures in
the following order, where possible:

ENSIGN | Unit IG1 – Element 4 – Health and Safety Monitoring and Measuring 14