Incident Investigation Procedure is a set of systematic steps to follow when conducting an investigation. After the occurrence of any incident or near miss in the workplace, employers should ensure that such an occurrence is immediately investigated. This is to ensure that employers keep up with their health and safety compliance duties stipulated in the Act to provide a safe and healthy working environment.. However, the re-occurrence of incidents can only be stopped if the right investigation procedure is followed. The investigation will determine the cause, effect and establish how re-occurrence of an incident can be prevented in the future.
For a successful incident investigation to be carried out, the contribution of all in the workplace is essential. Employees, managers and supervisors need to be trained so as to enable them to meet compliance standards when performing their roles and responsibilities during an incident investigation, stipulated in the COID Act.
Employees are obliged by the act to meet these compliance standards by participating in an incident investigation.
(i) they have a duty to report an incident as soon as it occurs to relevant authorities
(ii) they have a duty to ensure they do not temper with an incident scene in any way; touch, move take anything away from an accident scene as this can jeopardize an investigation
(iii) they should not try to move an injured person unless the presence of that person could further threaten their life
Managers/Supervisors are required to perform the below duties and many more, according to the COID Act:
(i) seal off the scene to prevent the distortion of evidence and to allow smooth response by emergency professionals
(ii) ensure that first aiders take proper care of the injured person
(iii) ensure that the investigation starts immediately after accident occurrence
(iv) identify potential sources of information e.g. injured person, witnesses any other physical evidence
Once these two groups take up their responsibilities, an Incident Investigation can begin. In an Incident Investigation
A compliant health and safety investigation procedure must follow the steps below:
1. Gather information
Gathering information of events leading to the incidents and any other valuable information is the first step of a proper Incident Investigation Procedure. Information can be gathered by interviewing people who were present when the incident happened or might have valuable information. Witnesses should be encouraged to provide as much information as possible and which is truthful. Notes of all conversations and pictures if possible should be taken.
Tips to successfully gather information:
- Make the interviews to be as relaxed as possible and don't play the blame game as evidence would be withheld from fear of incriminating oneself or someone in your Incident Investigation Procedure.
- Hear the full story of everyone and go through the story with them to ensure the information is accurate as assumptions would be deadly.
- Conduct interview at the accident scene if possible, this may spark and revive witnesses' memories on what happened and demonstrations can assist in the investigation.
2. Determine the root cause
This step of the incident investigation procedure will enable the investigator to establish the real cause of the incident. The absence of training provided to employees could be a cause. It could also be caused by poor safe working procedures or their total in-availability or by workplace set up or poor maintenance, to mention but a few.
3. Establish the work elements that contributed to that incident
Determine which activity contributed to the incident, e.g. It was through the operation of machinery but the reason why the machinery failed and caused an incident is because of poor maintenance (root cause)
4. implement Preventative/corrective/control measures
After establishing all the above, the investigator must implement corrective measures to prevent re-occurrence of the same incident or another related to the same work element. Such control measures should be evaluated at a certain time to determine their effectiveness.
5. Document the incident investigation
The findings and information attained during the investigation should be documented and stored safely. It can be used for evaluation or future references.
Checking if you meet health and safety compliance is fundamental before companies partake in any activity in the workplace. There are many Acts that govern workplaces and it is essential that employers ensure they have all the knowledge on compliance requirement they must meet according to the law.
MAKROSAFE has the expertise, knowledge and team that can conduct comprehensive incident investigations according to the correct incident Investigation Procedure. We can help you compliance in any aspect of the workplace through our well educated team. Contact us today!
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