Analyzing Accidents – Breaking the chain of errors
On the trail or in the backwoods, accidents are not as frequent as a near miss.
Some of those near misses could have been deadly had the chain of errors not been broken. A problem during the adventure is usually not caused by one mistake or a single piece of failed gear. Most accidents have numerous things that go wrong when tragedy strikes. Once you and your team say, “whew that was close,” it is time to do a post event analysis.
What were the precipitating environmental, equipment, and human hazards?
Could any of those hazards have been reduced or eliminated?
What sequence of events caused or lead up to the incident?
What safety factors and backups were in place? Were they sufficient?
Did the team have the right training and experience?
Once the near miss or accident happened, how did the team respond? Could you have done anything differently?
Remember your 7 “P”s…Proper Prior Planning Prevents Pis* Poor Performance!
The Gear Guys 