Developing a Strategy to Prevent the Effect of Unsafe Acts (Human Errors) on the Incidence of Sports Injuries

As with other occupations, mistakes and unsafe behaviors are among the major causes of accidents in sports. Given the harmful consequences of sport accidents, it is essential to identify ways to control and reduce these unsafe practices. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to develop a strategy to prevent the effects of unsafe practices on the occurrence of sports accidents in sports environments.

The research was fundamental in terms of purpose and qualitative data were collected using grounded theory using a Glaser approach. The study was conducted among 20 experts in the fields of safety, occupational medicine, psychology, sports injuries, and sports management in 2020. The participants were selected to attend in-depth unstructured interviews purposefully based on the snowball method. Data were analyzed simultaneously using a set of open, selective, and theoretical coding.

The results indicated that the four factors of individual, organization, job knowledge, and the relationship between individual and organization were the main causes of human error in the occurrence of sports accidents. The individual and organizational variables (as process variables) and job knowledge as well as the relationship between the individual and the organizational factors as developmental and auxiliary variables played teh major role in this field.

According to the causes of sport accidents, improving the personal attitude and performance, improving the organizational structure, continuous learning and training of job knowledge, as well as improving and strengthening the positive relationship between the individual and the organization can reduce the risk and promote safety. However, lack of  paying attention to these factors disrupts immunity.