SIF (serious injury or fatality)
The outcomes energy-based safety exists to prevent.
A SIF is a life-ending, life-threatening or life-altering injury. In US construction, low-severity injury rates fell steadily from 2010 to 2023 while the fatality rate stayed flat. The explanation that drove EBS is that the two have different causes:
Minor injuries
- Come from low-energy events
- Ordinary controls manage them
Most SIFs
- Come from high-energy releases
- Only a Direct Control works
In Hallowell’s case analysis, whether a high-energy hazard was controlled was the strongest factor separating SIFs from lesser injuries, though not every SIF involves high energy.
Related terms
- High-energy hazard
- A hazard whose energy, if released, is enough to kill or cause life-altering injury.
- Direct Control
- A control that stops a high-energy release even when a person makes a mistake.
- High-energy threshold (1,500 joules)
- The research-based line above which a serious injury is the most likely outcome of contact.