An unsafe act is an action or omission by a person that departs from a safe method and raises the chance of an incident, such as speeding, carrying a passenger or traveling with raised forks.
The term comes from early accident-causation models that split causes into unsafe acts by people and unsafe conditions in the workplace, such as a blind corner, poor lighting or a damaged floor. In forklift operations, common unsafe acts include not looking in the direction of travel, driving with a load that blocks forward view, skipping the pre-operation inspection, and pedestrians cutting through a truck aisle instead of using the marked route.
Current incident investigation practice treats an unsafe act as a starting point, not a root cause. OSHA’s incident investigation guidance asks investigators to look past the worker’s action to the underlying system causes, such as production pressure, a missing walkway, an unclear rule or gaps in training. Labeling an incident as an unsafe act and stopping there tends to produce discipline instead of fixes. See unsafe acts vs unsafe conditions.