The Study of Rate and Cause of Occupational Accidents Occurred Throughout the Overhaul Program in one of Petroleum Industries (2001-2010)

Overhaul program is one of the sensitive, dangerous and extensive activities in petroleum industries. As a result of high rate of occupational accidents throughout this program, it is necessary to study the cause of accidents carefully. The current study as a descriptive-analytical was designed and conducted to evaluate the rate and cause of occupational accidents that were occurred throughout the overhaul program within ten years (2001-2010) in one of the petroleum industries The occupational accidents data including demographic parameters (age, marital status), job experience, year of accident, affected organ, type and nature of injury and cause of accident were collected from workers’ medical records. The collected data were then analyzed by SPSS-11 and descriptive statistics. According to the results, about 23 occupational accidents were occurred in the-refinery during the last 10 years throughout the overhaul program. The majority of accidents (43.5%) was occurred in 2006, while the lowest was (4.3%) in 2002.The mean age of injured subjects was 30.2±11.2 years. Most injured subjects (56.5%) were observed in age category of 21-30 years and less (13%)in age category of 31-40 and over 50 years old. The most injured organs were lower parts of body (52.2%) and upper parts of body (47.8%) respectively. Main causes of accidents were reported as unsafe acts (careless, unsafe and lack of skill), while environmental conditions (slipperiness) caused a lowest number of accidents. In this study, unsafe acts were the most important factors of the occupational accidents. In order to reduce the occupational accidents throughout the program, job safety courses and trainings are essential to be held for workers. Moreover, applying comments of HSE staffs, precise supervision on accomplishment of the regulations, providing and using the proper personal protective equipment are helpful to prevent the occupational accidents.