Investigating accidents

Almost all accidents and incidents are preventable and each one has a cause — poor supervision, inadequate training, or lax safety policies, for example. If you can eliminate the cause, you can prevent another accident. Develop a procedure that determines who will do the investigation and ensures that the investigation will be thorough and accurate. Use an accident investigation form that documents when, how, where, and why the accident occurred. Get statements from witnesses and others involved in the accident, then prepare a report that describes how the accident can be prevented from happening again. Your safety committee should help investigate the accident, identify the cause, and prepare the report.

Investigating incidents

An incident is a miss or a “close call.” Though no one is injured, always investigate a near miss. One way to investigate near misses is to have a “no-fault” incident reporting system: Employees fill out a simple incident-report form that describes the incident and how it happened. Investigate the incident as if it were an accident. Employees should be told what will be done to prevent an accident.