@ REastwood
As someone that now works in OHS/WHS I can say I could not agree more.
@ John Brandon
Zero accident/incidents are not achievable when you cannot control all hazards.
http://www.smartohs.com.au/site/files/ul/data_text30/1363739.pdf
The thing about this hierarchy is that only Elimination is capable of reducing the risk from a particular hazard to zero - everything else under elimination in that list has a residual risk profile, ie there will be some extraordinary circumstances sometime that will trip the "one in a million" event, and in fact that is why it is a one in a million. "Beware the ones..." I am saying that we should try to reduce our risk profile by constantly reviewing and reassessing other options, not simply giving up all attempts at risk reduction.
There is also the small matter of the frailty of the human mind and body - we are not perfect, nor will we ever be. What do you do about an outwardly fit and healthy 30 yr old that has a heart attack in a loaded 200 tonne dump truck going up a a ramp in an open cut mine? How about a staff member that has his first psychotic event whilst in possession of 8 tonnes of ANFO with detonators, wiring, and charge box in his possession?
The environment can also play some pretty extreme tricks too. Remember a couple of months ago about that guy in Florida that went to bed, only to die in his bed from being consumed in a sink hole?
There is a baseline random element to risks that is is simply not possible to gauge.
“
There are known knowns; there are things we know that we know.
There are known unknowns; that is to say, there are things that we now know we don't know.
But there are also unknown unknowns – there are things we do not know we don’t know.
”
—
United States Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld
(One of the more intelligent things he did come out with...)
Zero accidents/incidents is a great line for upper management to throw around to give the appearance of being serious and proactive, indeed it is not frowned upon by most OHS people as an ideal. Most if not all OHS staff realise that is is not a practical scenario, and that the reality is you can only manage your risk profile, not eliminate it altogether, leading to the non-zero accident/incident rates that are usually seen for the reasons stated above.