Conducting an Accident Investigation
Course 102
Safety Certified Supervisor Series

MODULE 6: DEVELOPING RECOMMENDATIONS

Recommend system improvements

Missing or inadequate safety system components represent root causes for workplace accidents. Surface causes represent symptoms indicating system weaknesses. Therefore, every effort should be made to improve system components to ensure long term workplace safety. As we learned in the last module, the most successful accident investigator is actually a systems analyst: Not an easy task.

Making system improvements might include some of the following:

• Including "safety" in a mission statement.
• Improving safety policy so that it clearly establishes responsibility and accountability.
• Changing a work process so that checklists are used that include safety checks.
• Revising purchasing policy to include safety considerations as well as cost.
• Changing the safety inspection process to include all supervisors and employees.