All this talk about "Sh_t That Can Kill You" (STCKY) and focusing on those Low-Frequency, High-Severity risks is just one of the current safety fads. I like SIF, and if you really think about it, SIF and Process Safety are very much aligned. But I have never understood why it needed to be its own little program, with all this PR virtue signaling; other than to make some consultants a lot of money.

I have said this many times: if you want to focus on the risks that can result in Serious Injuries and Fatalities (SIF), then begin by looking DEEP into your controls/barriers/safeguards around the STCKY such as Lockout/Tagout, Permit-Required Confined Space, Working at Heights, Line/Equipment Opening, Electrical Safety Related Work Practices, PITs, etc. Even Emergency Response should be included if the organization has its own ER team(s).

These programs/practices (i.e., controls/barriers/safeguards) AND the TRAINING that goes with them can almost always be improved and substantially improved in many cases. And let me say this about SIF: if an organization is serious about SIF, then it won't be serious about 15-minute Computer-based Training modules that are not even specific to the business and its safe work practices. That is if the organization believes that safety training is foundational to reducing risks!

Here is Mr. Heinrich's take from 1929...

"In any case, in prevention work, the importance of any individual accident lies in its potential power to create injury and not in the fact that it actually does or does not so result. Therefore, when we arbitrarily select lost-time or so called major accidents for study, as a basis for records and for guidance in prevention work, we are often misdirecting our efforts, ignoring most valuable data, and unnecessarily limiting our statistical exposure."

Source: H.W. Heinrich, The Foundation of Major Injury, Travelers, 1929

MANY THANKS to Carsten Busch for his Book "The Heinrich Project III – The Travelers Papers" (https://www.amazon.com/Heinrich-Project-III-Travelers-Papers/dp/8269037761)