An Assessment of the Psychological Undertones to Accidents in Manufacturing Industries

To err is human. This apparently explains the occurrence of accidents in manufacturing industries around the world. The study reviewed notable empirical findings on the psychological undertones to the causes of accidents in manufacturing industries in the past ten years. Documentary cum content analyses methods were adopted. The study spanned Nigeria, United Kingdom, Spain, India, Malaysia and Thailand. The core research questions are: What are the categories of factors responsible for accidents in manufacturing industries? What proportion of the various factors attributed for accidents in the manufacturing industries are psychological? What are the psychological factors responsible for accidents in manufacturing industries. Some of the categories of causes found were: financial, mechanical, and psychological. Seventy-three percent [73%] of the identified causes of accidents in manufacturing industries had psychological undertone, and virtually all these causes were preventable. It was therefore recommended that concerted efforts should be made to evolve valid psychological instruments for collating the prevalence and causes of accidents in manufacturing industries around the world; there should be more astute psychological screening of factory managers and proprietors for mental health; and there should be regular psychological training to build the cognitive, emotional and social intelligences of keys players in manufacturing industries to circumvent the occurrence of accidents in manufacturing industries around the world.