Conditions of occurrence of major and minor accidents. Based on a paper presented at the 2nd seminar “Le risque de défaillance et son contrôle par les individus et les organisations”, 6-7 november 2000 at CNRS, Gif sur Yvette.

This paper reflects on the commonality, or lack of it, between the causes and conditions of occurrence of major and minor accidents. It is written as a reaction to the belief, which seems to be prevalent in the safety world, that these phenomenon have the same causes and should be prevented using the same measures. More specifically it responds to the belief that one can prevent the major accidents in a company by studying minor accidents. The objective is to show that this belief is only partly true, and that it can, if not limited to that aspect, mislead companies and safety experts into seriously misdirecting safety efforts. (Author/publisher)