August 11, 2010

Do Your Accident Investigations Deliver?

Investigations of workplace accidents are typically conducted to find the cause so you can take corrective action and prevent future accidents. Organizations often struggle with determining the appropriate investigative process, but thoughtful consideration of some basic elements of accident investigation can help you get what you need from your investigations. The basic elements include:

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1. Your investigatory scope: Some organizations investigate only accidents that result in injury; others organizations investigate all accidents, including near misses and property damage. The types of accidents investigated can affect the quality of your investigations. If you are investigating "everything," you may end up generating a lot of data—but poor quality data that provide little or no value in improving your safety process.

When determining whether to investigate some or all of the safety-related incidents in your workplace, consider the following:

• whether any regulatory requirements apply
• the information you need from your accident investigations
• what happens to the information generated from an investigation (for example, does an accident investigation result in a list of action items?)
• the depth of the investigations (more in-depth investigations obviously will take more time and effort, likely limiting your ability to do large numbers of them)
• the resources available for performing investigations

2. Your investigators: Accident investigations are generally highly subjective. The way the investigation is conducted—including facts collected, presentation of those facts, and conclusions reached—are heavily colored by the experiences and perspective of the investigator. This may not be a significant problem with an experienced investigator with little bias, but you might employ such an individual. To reduce the subjectivity in your investigations, use a team of investigators with a mix of employees, develop investigation guidelines on how to conduct an accident investigation, and train your investigators in a standard investigative process.

3. Your paperwork: On the one hand, accident reporting forms are a useful way of reminding investigators about what to look for when investigating an accident. On the other, they can be detrimental to your investigation. Using forms, especially those that are structured primarily in a true/false, multiple choice, or check-off format, can produce data that is distorted to fit into the prescribed categories and a lack of insight into what actually occurred. Consider incorporating open-ended questions with free response areas that allow investigators to collect information that doesn't fit neatly in the check-off categories.

Also, accident forms are often developed by someone other than the investigators, such as insurers or the administrative personnel who maintain the safety database. To improve your accident reporting, give investigators an opportunity to provide input into how an accident report form should be structured.

Are Accidents Still Happening in Your Workplace?

Somehow, even with your excellent safety and health program, an accident happens. After medical assistance has been provided to victims, and the immediate crisis is brought under control, an investigation is in order.

It is important to conduct your investigation in such a manner that it will serve as a valuable tool to prevent similar accidents in the future. How your investigation is conducted will determine in large part how useful it will be. In our exclusive Employer Guide Why Smart Accident Investigations Can Make Your Workplace Safer; 3 Stages of Success, you'll learn proven strategies for success so that you can reap the biggest benefits from your accident investigations and make your workplace safer. The guide covers the three stages of accident investigation, near miss reports, and how to involve employees in your investigative process as well as a detailed investigation report example. Download your copy today!

Download your copy now »

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