Looking beyond people, equipment and environment: is a systems theory model of accident causation required to understand injuries and near misses during outdoor activities?

The National Incident Database (NID) provides a standardised, industry-wide, approach to incident reporting for the outdoor sector in New Zealand (NZ). The aim of this study was to determine whether the NID contributing factor categories (i.e. people, equipment and environment) are sufficient for classifying the data that has been collected on accident causation by the NID, or whether a systems theory framework is required. A sample of injury and near miss reports (n = 228) were extracted from the NID and analysed. All contributing factors identified were classified according to Rasmussen's (1997) Risk Management Framework (RRMF), which was adapted to describe the “led outdoor activity system”. In total, 58 different contributing factor categories were identified across the 228 incidents. Factors were classified across all levels of the framework, which indicates that the NID categories are inadequate. The findings also demonstrate that RRMF is appropriate for classifying the contributing factors involved in less severe injuries and near misses that do not have in-depth investigations associated with them.