Conducting an Accident Investigation
Course 102
Safety Certified Supervisor Series

MODULE 1: INITIATING THE PROCESS

First things first.. .lay the groundwork

When a serious accident occurs in the workplace, everyone will be too busy dealing with the emergency at hand to worry about putting together an investigation plan, so before the accident occurs... develop an effective written incident/accident analysis plan that will:

• Determine who should be notified of accident.
• Establish who is authorized to notify outside agencies (fire, police, etc.)
• Determine who is assigned to conduct investigations.
• Conduct required training for accident investigators.
• Determine who receives and acts on investigation reports.
• Establish timetables for conducting the investigation and follow-up actions such as hazard correction.

The first step in an effective accident investigation procedure is to secure the accident scene as soon as possible so you can begin collecting initial data. Sometimes, you may actually be able to begin the investigation, while the victim is being assisted by emergency responders. In this case, make sure you do not interfere in any way with them. The first responsibility is to make sure the victim is cared for. At this early point, you're primarily making initial observations for later analysis.

Most of the time, your investigation will not begin until emergency response is completed. In this situation, material evidence will most likely not be in its original location. Of course, this will make it more difficult for you to determine the original location of evidence, but effective interviews will help you to construct the scene. In either situation, you're not yet interested in what "caused" the accident, just gathering as much pertinent information as possible for later analysis.

Why is it important to start the investigation as soon as possible? Of course, it's not to establish blame, but rather to accurately determine the surface and root causes for the accident. The longer you wait to investigate, the more unlikely you'll be able to fulfill this very important purpose. So, why does accuracy suffer over time?