Investigating the status of accident precursor management in East Azarbaijan Province Gas Company

Abstract

Purpose. The accident precursor reporting system is a key point in preventing accidents and proper functioning of this system is critical. In the present study, the accident precursor reporting system in the Iranian East Azarbaijan Province Gas Company was investigated. Methods. This quantitative–qualitative study used field survey and document review methods to determine how the company was reporting. Qualitative content analysis approaches were used to analyze the reporting system over a 3-year period. From 1209 accident precursor reports, 2271 codes were extracted. Finally, these codes were reduced to three clusters: 996 (43.86%), 447 (19.68%) and 828 (36.46%) codes related to near misses, unsafe conditions and unsafe acts, respectively. A χ 2 test was used to investigate the reporting process. Results. Reporting rates varied by time (e.g., people reported more accident precursors in the first 6 solar months), by area (some areas had higher reporting rates than others) and by type of job (operational jobs had the highest reporting rate [73.16%] compared to non-operational jobs [26.84%]). Conclusion. It was suggested that policy-makers should improve the accident precursor reporting system. Changes to the current reporting system are essential to help in the prevention of future unpleasant accidents.