An MIS incident-reporting program for industry

Smal l i n d u s t r i a l e n t e r p r i s e s have a need f o r a c c u r a t e and t i m e l y i n f o r m a t i o n p e r t a i n i n g t o the v a r i o u s unp lanned e v e n t s t h a t occur d u r i n g t he normal course o f o p e r a t i o n w i t h r e s p e c t t o a c c i d e n t s i n v o l v i n g p e r s o n n e l , production ou tages , and property damage. In l a r g e r e n t e r p r i s e s , the r e s p o n s i b i l i t y f o r m o n i t o r i n g t hese i n c i d e n t s i s ass igned t o s p e c i a l groups w i t h i n the o r g a n i z a t i o n , such as the s a f e t y , l o s s c o n t r o l , and q u a l i t y c o n t r o l depa r tmen ts . The sma l l i n d u s t r i a l e n t e r p r i s e n o r m a l l y does no t have the s t a f f o r r esou rces t o commit t o t hese s u p p o r t f u n c t i o n s . As a r e s u l t , t hese t asks a re pe r fo rmed by c l e r i c a l o r l i n e pe rsonne l t h a t have o t h e r p r i m a r y r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s . The consequence o f t h i s s i t u a t i o n i s t h a t i n c i d e n t r e p o r t i n g i s no t g i v e n a h i gh p r i o r i t y . The r e s u l t i s t h a t management r e l i e s p r i m a r i l y on p r o d u c t i v i t y improvement w i t h i t s a s s o c i a t e d c a p i t a l c o s t as the p r i n c i p l e means o f i m p r o v i n g o p e r a t i o n s . The i n a b i l i t y t o t ap the knowledge o f the o p e r a t i n g pe rsonne l r e s u l t s in l o s t o p p o r t u n i t i e s t o improve t he o p e r a t i o n , and f a i l u r e t o reduce c o s t s a t t r i b u t a b l e t o a c c i d e n t s i n v o l v i n g p e r s o n n e l , and p r o p e r t y damage. The a v a i l a b i l i t y o f m ic rocompu te rs w i t h modera te s t o r a g e c a p a c i t i e s f o r d a t a i s p r o v i d i n g an o p p o r t u n i t y f o r the sma l l e n t e r p r i s e t h a t was u n a v a i l a b l e a decade ago. The m ic rocompu te r has made i t p o s s i b l e t o r e c o r d v a s t amounts o f d a t a in c l o s e p r o x i m i t y t o the o p e r a t i n g s i t e s w i t h o u t c r e a t i n g a d d i t i o n a l paperwork o r c o n t r i b u t i n g t o t he paper shuffle that can distract l ine personnel f rom thei r primary responsibi l i ty of directing operations. Moreover, the microcomputer provides a t o o l t o a n a l y z e t he c o l l e c t e d da ta and t o i ssue r e p o r t s c o n t a i n i n g i n f o r m a t i o n abou t each i n c i d e n t . The purpose o f t h i s paper i s t o demons t ra te how a database-management system can be des igned t o hand le v a r i o u s t ypes o f i n f o r m a t i o n and produce r e p o r t s t o a s s i s t management w i t h d e c i s i o n making in the a reas no ted above. As an example , the needs o f an underground coa l mine w i l l be a n a l y z e d and addressed , but i t shou ld be emphasized t h a t the approach taken i s no t un ique t o t h i s p a r t i c u l a r segment o f i n d u s t r y .