Date of Award

January 2017

Degree Type

Open Access Thesis

Document Type

Master Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Safety, Security, and Emergency Management

First Advisor

E. Scott Dunlap

Department Affiliation

Safety, Security, and Emergency Management

Second Advisor

Earl H. Blair

Department Affiliation

Safety, Security, and Emergency Management

Third Advisor

Barry S. Spurlock

Department Affiliation

Safety, Security, and Emergency Management

Abstract

Today, generally 13 U.S. workers die from workplace injuries. In 1970 on average, there were as many as 38 workplace fatalities on each day (DOL 2016). As a response to this alarming reality, the government enacted the Occupational Safety and Health Act in 1970. This governmental legislation created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to regulate safety in the workplace; as well as, The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health who was charged with "developing new knowledge in the field of occupational safety and health and to transfer that knowledge into practice" (CDC NIOSH 2017).

In order to understand and educate the public on why workplace deaths occur; NIOSH enacted the Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) program in 1982. Since its inception, the NIOSH FACE program has used workplace death investigations as an important methodology for educating the public about the hazards associated with simply going to work. While this noble cause is laudable there has been no inquiry investigating the results produced from this governmental program. Therefore, this research shall analyze the data produced from the NIOSH Face program, which was utilized to create their Federal FACE database. Specific focus will also be given to the degree of hierarchical safety controls recommended from the workplace death investigations that have occurred over the last 32 years; as the means, for understanding the interrelationships of the recommendations forwarded from NIOSH FACE programs.

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