Conducting an Accident Investigation
Course 102
Safety Certified Supervisor Series

MODULE 2: DOCUMENTING THE ACCIDENT SCENE

Why the team approach works best

Once the accident scene has been roped off, it's important to begin immediately to gather evidence from many sources as possible during an investigation. One of the biggest challenges facing the investigator is to determine what is relevant to what happened, how it happened, and why it happened. Identifying items that answer these questions is the purpose of effective accident scene documentation.

As you'll learn, there are so many ways to document the scene that it may become quite difficult for one person to effectively complete all actions. The most effective strategy is to document as much as possible, even if you question relevancy. It's easy to discard clues or leads if they prove not useful to the investigation. It's not at all easy to dig up material evidence well into the investigation. All items found at the scene should be considered important and potentially relevant. Consequently, a team approach is probably the most efficient strategy when conducting accident investigations when very serious injuries or fatalities are involved.