Overview
This unit will enable you to understand the phenomena of accidents from an epidemiological perspective and apply your learning to actively improve safety. You will use an analytical approach to evaluate risk and demonstrate an understanding of both failures and failure prevention methods. As part of your study in the unit you will apply a range of theoretical accident causation models to systems failures, while understanding their effective characteristics, including the strengths and weaknesses of these models. On completion, you will be able to articulate the evolution of principles, methods and models relating to the phenomenology and epidemiology of accidents, accident prevention systems and forensic analysis of accident data.
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 - 2023
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 12-credit Postgraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 25 hours of study per week, making a total of 300 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 Have Your Say
Students appreciated the real world case studies with respect to accident investigation.
Contine to use real world examples with an emphasis on current accidents.
Feedback from Have Your Say
Students would like more Zoom sessions to practice the skills learnt.
Provide extra Zoom sessions to practice accident modeling and analysis.
- Examine the existence of multiple interpretations of reality and their impact on the recognition of accident pathogens and causation factors
- Appraise contemporary concepts and methods, defining logic, reasoning and evidence based practice
- Analyse the nature of risk, systems, systems failure and failure prevention methods
- Explain the evolution of accident epidemiology and the precepts of accident causation
- Apply accident causation models to explain the accident phenomenon.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Group Discussion - 20% | |||||
| 2 - Written Assessment - 20% | |||||
| 3 - Written Assessment - 60% | |||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Knowledge | |||||
| 2 - Communication | |||||
| 3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills | |||||
| 4 - Research | |||||
| 5 - Self-management | |||||
| 6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility | |||||
| 7 - Leadership | |||||
| 8 - First Nations Knowledges | |||||
| 9 - 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 | |
| 1 - Group Discussion - 20% | |||||||||
| 2 - Written Assessment - 20% | |||||||||
| 3 - Written Assessment - 60% | |||||||||
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
Week 1
Begin Date: 06 Mar 2023Module/Topic
Lecture: Introduction & Unit Overview
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
No tutorial
Week 2
Begin Date: 13 Mar 2023Module/Topic
Lecture: The Accident Phenomenon
Chapter
Allison, R.W., Hon, C.K. and Xia, B., 2019. Construction accidents in Australia: Evaluating the true costs. Safety Science, 120, pp.886-896.
Ferry, (1988) Modern Accident Investigation and Analysis 2nd Ed, John Wiley & Sons, New York
Events and Submissions/Topic
Tutorial: On demand
Week 3
Begin Date: 20 Mar 2023Module/Topic
Lecture: The Accident Phenomenon (cont'd)
Chapter
Applicable readings will be provided in Moodle
Events and Submissions/Topic
Tutorial: On demand
Week 4
Begin Date: 27 Mar 2023Module/Topic
Lecture: The Evolution of Accident Investigation and Prevention
Chapter
Applicable readings will be provided in Moodle
Events and Submissions/Topic
Tutorial: On demand
Discussion 1 due Monday 27 March 2023 9.00am
Week 5
Begin Date: 03 Apr 2023Module/Topic
Lecture: Heinrich's Domino Theory
Chapter
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.
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, 4(2), p.53.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Tutorial: On demand
Vacation Week
Begin Date: 10 Apr 2023Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 6
Begin Date: 17 Apr 2023Module/Topic
Lecture: The Haddon Matrix
Chapter
Runyan C., (2003), Revisiting Haddon's Conceptualization of Injury Epidemiology and Prevention, Epidemiologic Review, Vol.25
Barnett, D., et al, (2005), The Application of the Haddon Matrix to Public Health Readiness, Environmental Health perspectives, Vol 113, No 5.
Runyan, C.W., 1998. Using the Haddon matrix: introducing the third dimension. Injury prevention, 4(4), pp.302-307.
Haddon Jr, W., 1980. Advances in the epidemiology of injuries as a basis for public policy. Public health reports, 95(5), p.411.
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: On demand
Discussion 2 due Monday 17 April 2023 9.00am
Week 7
Begin Date: 24 Apr 2023Module/Topic
Lecture: Reason's System Safety Management Model
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Tutorial: On demand
Week 8
Begin Date: 01 May 2023Module/Topic
Lecture: Viner's Energy Damage Model & Time Sequence Model
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Tutorial: On demand
Written Assessment - Accident Prevention Paper Due: Week 8 Monday (1 May 2023) 9:00 am AEST
Week 9
Begin Date: 08 May 2023Module/Topic
Lecture: The Tapestry of Failure
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Tutorial: On demand
Discussion 3 due Monday 8 May 2023 9.00am
Week 10
Begin Date: 15 May 2023Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Tutorial: On demand
Week 11
Begin Date: 22 May 2023Module/Topic
Chapter
Applicable readings will be provided in Moodle
Events and Submissions/Topic
Tutorial: On demand
Week 12
Begin Date: 29 May 2023Module/Topic
Independent study
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
No tutorial
Mind Map due Monday 29 May 2023 9.00am
Review/Exam Week
Begin Date: 05 Jun 2023Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Exam Week
Begin Date: 12 Jun 2023Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Group Discussion
Three discussion subjects related to the current changing world of socio-technical complexities, the history of accidents and approaches to investigation will be put up on the Moodle site in Week one.
You must post your own considered opinion on each of the three topics and also respond to and comment upon one of your fellow students’ posts in each topic. You must then prepare and submit a Mind Map from one of the three subjects that summarises the concepts and issues from the on-line discussions and your own research and experience. Further information will be provided in Moodle.Discussion 1 - 27 March 2023: Discussion 2 - 17 April 2023: Discussion 3 - 8 May 2023: Mind Map - 29 May 2023
Two weeks after due date
The Mind Map will be worth 5 marks. There will be 5 marks allocated to each discussion topic. This will be for your initial post and your response to a peer.
As a guide your submission for the online submissions, the initial post should be 400-500 words. The responses to your peers should be approximately 300 words- Examine the existence of multiple interpretations of reality and their impact on the recognition of accident pathogens and causation factors
- Appraise contemporary concepts and methods, defining logic, reasoning and evidence based practice
- Analyse the nature of risk, systems, systems failure and failure prevention methods
- Explain the evolution of accident epidemiology and the precepts of accident causation
- Apply accident causation models to explain the accident phenomenon.
- Knowledge
- Communication
- Cognitive, technical and creative skills
- Research
- Self-management
- Ethical and Professional Responsibility
2 Written Assessment
Task Description
Write a paper to describe why you think accidents are still occurring after more than 100 years of "modern" approaches to accident prevention.
Your paper needs to draw conclusions from a comprehensive review of the relevant literature and any from this unit to date. Where you draw conclusions from specific industries or individual cases or circumstances, you must demonstrate how these industry examples, cases or circumstances are representative of the overall accident phenomenon affecting modern society.
Use evidence based practice to discuss how these accident prevention concepts align to managing the nature of risk, systems, systems failure and failure prevention methods.
Your paper should be a maximum of 2000 words and your arguments should be supported by appropriate citations from the literature and applicable case studies.
Your work should be correctly referenced using the current CQUni Harvard author/date referencing style. A list of all references used should be included at the end of your paper. (Minimum of 8 references)
Week 8 Monday (1 May 2023) 9:00 am AEST
2 weeks after due date
A rubric will be made available in Moodle.
- Examine the existence of multiple interpretations of reality and their impact on the recognition of accident pathogens and causation factors
- Appraise contemporary concepts and methods, defining logic, reasoning and evidence based practice
- Analyse the nature of risk, systems, systems failure and failure prevention methods
- Knowledge
- Communication
- Cognitive, technical and creative skills
- Research
- Self-management
- Ethical and Professional Responsibility
3 Written Assessment
This assessment has 2 parts. Part A. Position paper. (30%)
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
- Technology
- Systems
- Human Factors
- Social and organisational networks, including management and supervision
- Education & Training
- Culture
- Addressing failure
- Establishing and validating corrective, remedial and preventative actions and
- Learning from Failure in general.
- Union Carbide Fatal Methyl Isocyanate Gas Leak, Bhopal India, December 2, 1984
- Pan American B747 and KLM B747 Collision at Tenerife, Canary Islands on March 27, 1977
- Waterfall rail accident, Waterfall Sydney Australia, January 31, 2003
- Level crossing collision between a school bus and train 7GP1 near Moorine Rock, Western Australia, 23 March 2009
- Costa Concordia sank after striking submerged rocks, Isola del Giglio, Italy,13 January 2012
- Shuttle Challenger exploded after take-off 28 January 1986
- Heinrich’s Domino Theory
- Haddon Matrix
- Reason System of Safety Management Model
- Time Sequence Model
- Extended Energy Damage Model
Review/Exam Week Monday (5 June 2023) 9:00 am AEST
Two weeks after due date
The following assessment criteria will apply:
- Explores the literature and discusses the theoretical underpinnings of the chosen model
- Discusses the effectiveness in addressing failures in two of the chosen elements and the models guidance in learning from failure
- A logical argument is presented
- Prepare well developed and populated selected models and provide clear description of the failures as shown in the models.
- Grammar and spelling are consistently accurate
- Referencing
- Presentation
- Analyse the nature of risk, systems, systems failure and failure prevention methods
- Explain the evolution of accident epidemiology and the precepts of accident causation
- Apply accident causation models to explain the accident phenomenon.
- Knowledge
- Communication
- Cognitive, technical and creative skills
- Research
- Self-management
- Ethical and Professional Responsibility
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?
