Overview
This unit will provide students with the basis for explaining the evolution of accident investigation methods and practice. On completion, students will be able to explain the characteristics, strengths and weaknesses of key theoretical accident causation models and apply the models to accident scenarios.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
There are no requisites for this unit.
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 1 - 2024
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of 'pass' in order to pass the unit. If any 'pass/fail' tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully ('pass' grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the 'assessment task' section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback - Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from Verbal feedback
Students enjoyed the use of real life examples to enlighten their learning.
Ensure that real life examples are included in the teaching materials .
- Analyse the evolution of accident investigation methods and practice.
- Use accident causation models to establish accident causation factors.
- Apply accident causation models to contemporary accident case studies.
- Evaluate the application and effectiveness of accident causation models.
- Employ effective communication strategies appropriate to accident phenomenology.
- Demonstrate reflective skills appropriate to the development of the intermediate practitioner.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 1 - Online Quiz(zes) - 10% | ||||||
| 2 - Written Assessment - 20% | ||||||
| 3 - Practical Assessment - 20% | ||||||
| 4 - Written Assessment - 50% | ||||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 1 - Communication | ||||||
| 2 - Problem Solving | ||||||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | ||||||
| 4 - Information Literacy | ||||||
| 5 - Team Work | ||||||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | ||||||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | ||||||
| 8 - Ethical practice | ||||||
| 9 - Social Innovation | ||||||
| 10 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | ||||||
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |
| 1 - Online Quiz(zes) - 10% | ||||||||||
| 2 - Written Assessment - 20% | ||||||||||
| 3 - Practical Assessment - 20% | ||||||||||
| 4 - Written Assessment - 50% | ||||||||||
Textbooks
There are no required textbooks.
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: Harvard (author-date)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
k.perry@cqu.edu.au
a.raineri@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
Lecture: Introduction and Unit
Chapter
Readings will be available in Moodle
Events and Submissions/Topic
No tutorial
Module/Topic
Lecture: The Accident Phenomenon
Chapter
Ferry, (1988) Modern Accident Investigation and Analysis 2nd Ed, John Wiley & Sons, New York
Events and Submissions/Topic
No tutorial
Module/Topic
Lecture: The Accident Phenomenon
Chapter
Readings will be available in Moodle
Events and Submissions/Topic
Tutorial time TBA
Module/Topic
Lecture: Evolution of Accident Investigation and Prevention
Chapter
Readings will be available in Moodle
Events and Submissions/Topic
No tutorial
Online Quiz 1 Due: Week 4 Friday (29 March 2024) 5:00 pm AEST
Module/Topic
Lecture: Heinrich's Domino Theory
Chapter
SIA, (2012) OHS Body of Knowledge Models of Causation: Safety, Tullamarine
Hosseinian, S.S. and Torghabeh, Z.J., 2012. Major theories of construction accident causation models: A literature review. International Journal of Advances in Engineering & Technology
Rad, K.G., 2013. Application of domino theory to justify and prevent accident occurance in construction sites.IOSR J. Mech. Civ. Eng. IOSR-JMCE, 6, pp.72-76.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Tutorial: Applying Heinrich's Domino Theory to a major accident
Tutorial time TBA
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Lecture: The Haddon Matrix
Chapter
Haddon Jr, W., 1980. Advances in the epidemiology of injuries as a basis for public policy. Public health reports, 95(5), p.411.
ARM, C.M., 2016. The Work of William Haddon Jr. Professional Safety, 61(3), p.35.
Runyan, C.W., 1998. Using the Haddon matrix: introducing the third dimension. Injury prevention, 4(4), pp.302-307.
Williams, A.F., 1999. The Haddon matrix: its contribution to injury prevention and control. In Third National Conference on Injury Prevention and Control (pp. 15-16).
Events and Submissions/Topic
Tutorial: Applying the Haddon Matrix to a major accident
Tutorial time TBA
Accident Prevention Paper Due: Week 6 Monday (15 Apr 2024) 9:00 am AEST
Module/Topic
Lecture: Reason's System Safety Management Model
Chapter
Reason, J., Hollnagel, E. and Paries, J., 2006. Revisiting the Swiss cheese model of accidents. Journal of Clinical Engineering, 27(4), pp.110-115.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Tutorial: Applying Reason's System Safety model to a major accident.
Tutorial time TBA
Online Quiz 2 Due: Week 6 Friday (19 April 2024) 5:00 pm AEST
Module/Topic
Lecture: Viner's Extended Energy Damage Model and Time Sequence Model
Chapter
Viner, D., 1991. Accident analysis and risk control. VRJ Delphi.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Tutorial: Applying Viner's models to a major accident
Tutorial time TBA
Module/Topic
Lecture: The Tapestry of Failure
Chapter
Readings will be available in Moodle
Events and Submissions/Topic
No tutorial
Module/Topic
Lecture: Learning from failure and corrective actions
Chapter
Readings will be available in Moodle
Events and Submissions/Topic
Tutorial: Case Study Assignment
Tutorial time TBA
Theoretical Accident Causation Models Due: Week 10 Monday (13 May 2024) 9:00 am AEST
Module/Topic
Lecture: Safety II and the Accident Phenomenon
Chapter
Hollnagel, E., Wears, R.L. and Braithwaite, J., 2015. From Safety-I to Safety-II: a white paper. The resilient health care net: published simultaneously by the University of Southern Denmark, University of Florida, USA, and Macquarie University, Australia.
Events and Submissions/Topic
No tutorial
Module/Topic
Independent Study
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Online Quiz(zes)
You will be required to complete two online discussion quizzes in Moodle covering material related to the evolution of accident investigation methods and practice.There is no additional submission requirement for this assessment as students' responses to the discussion quiz will be graded online.
2
Other
Quiz 1 - 29 March 2024 Quiz 2 - 19 April 2024
Two weeks following submission
Grades will be applied based on the number of correct responses
- Employ effective communication strategies appropriate to accident phenomenology.
- Demonstrate reflective skills appropriate to the development of the intermediate practitioner.
- Communication
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Information Technology Competence
- Ethical practice
2 Written Assessment
You will write a short 'thinking' paper positing a point of view to describe why accidents are still occurring after more than 100 years of 'modern' approaches to accident prevention.
Your paper should be a maximum of 800 - 1000 words and your argument should be supported by a minimum of FOUR appropriate and reputable sources and citations from the literature.
A list of references used should be included at the end of your paper.
Week 6 Monday (15 Apr 2024) 9:00 am AEST
Two weeks following due date
- Provides a viewpoint as to why accidents are still occurring after more than a 100 years of "modern" approaches to accident prevention and draws from the learnings covered in the unit
- A logical argument is presented Grammar and spelling are consistently accurate
- References—includes the provision of a reference list and the application of the Harvard style for referencing
- Analyse the evolution of accident investigation methods and practice.
- Employ effective communication strategies appropriate to accident phenomenology.
- Communication
- Information Literacy
- Information Technology Competence
3 Practical Assessment
This assessment task has three parts.
You will investigate the literature relating to ONE of the theoretical accident models and prepare a position paper.
PART A
You will select one accident model from the following list:
- Heinrich’s Domino Theory
- Haddon Matrix
- Reason System Safety Management Model
- Time Sequence Model
- Extended Energy Damage Model
- FRAM
- CAST
PART B
From the list below, choose TWO elements:
- Technology Systems
- Human Factors
- Social and organisational networks, including management and supervision
- Education & Training
- Culture
Using the two elements, explore the literature and discuss the theoretical underpinnings of the chosen model in relation to its effectiveness in addressing accident causation
PART C
Discuss the model's guidance on:
- Establishing corrective, remedial and preventative actions
- Learning from failure in general
Your position paper should be limited to 2000 words maximum and be supported by relevant citations (minimum of 8) from the literature.
Your paper MUST be written in the third person.
Week 10 Monday (13 May 2024) 9:00 am AEST
Two weeks following due date
The following assessment criteria will apply:
- Discusses the model's effectiveness in addressing accident causation in two of the chosen elements
- Discusses the model's guidance on applying corrective, remedial and preventative actions
- Considers the model's usefulness in learning from failure
- A logical argument is presented
- Grammar and spelling are consistently accurate
- References—includes the provision of a reference list and the application of the Harvard style for referencing information, data, tables or images sourced for the assignment
- Use accident causation models to establish accident causation factors.
- Apply accident causation models to contemporary accident case studies.
- Demonstrate reflective skills appropriate to the development of the intermediate practitioner.
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Cross Cultural Competence
- Ethical practice
4 Written Assessment
This assessment task has three parts.
In this assessment task you will use an accident case study provided by your lecturer (in Moodle) to evaluate the effectiveness of TWO selected theoretical accident causation models in explaining the failures which occurred in the case study.
Part A
Select two theoretical accident models (different to that chosen for Assessment Task three) from the following list:
- Heinrich’s Domino Theory
- Haddon Matrix
- Reason System of Safety Management Model T
- ime Sequence Model
- Extended Energy Damage Model
Part B
Populate the models with the critical factors from the case study provided by the lecturer (in Moodle) to explain, in the language of the models, the failures which occurred in the accident. A template will be provided in Moodle, or you can choose your own.
Part C
You will then prepare a written report to explain:
- The reasons why the particular models were chosen
- The key characteristics of the models
- How well the models enabled explanation of the accident phenomena (the tapestry of failures which led to the accident)
- The perceived strengths and weaknesses of the chosen models in describing the accident phenomenon
Your report should not exceed 3000 words. It should be supported by relevant citations (minimum of 10) from the literature Your report MUST be written in the third person.
Review/Exam Week Monday (3 June 2024) 9:00 am AEST
Two weeks following due date
- Selects two theoretical accident models and populates them with both the critical factors from the case study provided by the lecturer and explains, in the language of the model, the failures which occurred in the accident
- Evaluates how well the theoretical models enabled explanation of the accident phenomena in the case study
- Report explains the reasons why the particular models were chosen, the key characteristics of the models, the tapestry of failures which led to the accident case study, as evidenced by the application of the chosen accident models; and the perceived strengths and weaknesses of the chosen models in describing the accident phenomenon
- A logical argument is presented
- Grammar and spelling are consistently accurate
- References—includes the provision of a reference list and the application of the Harvard style for referencing information, data, tables or images sourced for the assignment
- Analyse the evolution of accident investigation methods and practice.
- Use accident causation models to establish accident causation factors.
- Apply accident causation models to contemporary accident case studies.
- Evaluate the application and effectiveness of accident causation models.
- Employ effective communication strategies appropriate to accident phenomenology.
- Demonstrate reflective skills appropriate to the development of the intermediate practitioner.
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Information Technology Competence
- Cross Cultural Competence
- Ethical practice
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.
What can you do to act with integrity?
