There's been a accident at

work

Blaming the work is not an

option
Preventing the Next is the
key!
P bar Y Safety Consultants Alberta
Canada
 Accident Investigation
Important part of any safety management
system. Highlights the reasons why accidents
occur and how to prevent them.
The primary purpose of accident investigations
is to improve health and safety performance by:
Exploring the reasons for the event and identifying
both the immediate and underlying causes;
Identifying remedies to improve the health and safety
management system by improving risk control,
preventing a recurrence and reducing financial losses.

P bar Y Safety Consultants Alberta

Canada
 What to Investigate?
All accidents whether major or minor are caused.

Serious accidents have the same root causes as

minor accidents as do incidents with a potential for
serious loss. It is these root causes that bring
about the accident, the severity is often a matter
of chance.

Accident studies have shown that there is a

consistently greater number of less serious
accidents than serious accidents and in the same
way a greater number of incidents then accidents.

P bar Y Safety Consultants Alberta

Canada
Many accident ratio studies have been undertaken
and the one shown below is based on studies
carried out by the Health & Safety Executive.

1
Major injury
Or illness

7
Minor injuries or illnesses

189
Non Injury Accidents/Illnesses

P bar Y Safety Consultants Alberta

Canada
 Accident Studies
All events represent a degree of failure in
control and are potential learning experiences.
It therefore follows that all accidents should be
investigated to some extent.

This extent should be determined by the loss

potential, rather then just the immediate
effect.

P bar Y Safety Consultants Alberta

Canada
 Stages in an
Accident/Incident
Investigation
The stages in an accident/incident investigation
are shown in
Dealthe following diagram.
with immediate
risks.

Select the level of

investigation.

Investigate the event.

Record and analyse the

results.

Review the process.

P bar Y Safety Consultants Alberta

Canada
 Dealing with
Immediate Risks
Deal with immediate When accidents and incidents
risks.
occur immediate action may be
necessary to:
Select the level of
investigation. Make the situation safe and
prevent further injury.
Investigate the event. Help, treat and if necessary
rescue injured persons.
Record and analyse the
results.

An effective response can only

Review the process. be made if it has been planned
for in advance.

P bar Y Safety Consultants Alberta

Canada
 Selecting the level of
investigation
The greatest effort should be put into:
Deal with immediate Those involving severe injuries, ill-
risks. health or loss.
Those which could have caused
Select the level of much greater harm or damage.
investigation.
These types of accidents and
incidents demand more careful
Investigate the event.
investigation and management time.
This can usually be achieved by:
Record and analyse the Looking more closely at the
results.
underlying causes of significant
events.
Review the process. Assigning the responsibility for the
investigation of more significant
events to more senior managers.

P bar Y Safety Consultants Alberta

Canada
 Investigating the Event

Deal with immediate

risks.
The purpose of investigations
is to establish:
Select the level of The way things were and how they
investigation.
came to be.
What happened the sequence of
Investigate the event.
events that led to the outcome.
Why things happened as they did
Record and analyse the analysing both the immediate and
results.
underlying causes.
What needs to be done to avoid a
Review the process.
repetition and how this can be
achieved.

P bar Y Safety Consultants Alberta

Canada
A few sources should give the investigator all
that is needed to know.

Observation
Information from physical
sources including:
Premises and place of
work
Access & egress
Plant & substances in use
Location & relationship of
physical particles
Any post event checks,
sampling or
reconstruction
Documents
Information from:
Written instructions;
Procedures, risk
assessments, policies
Records of earlier
inspections, tests,
examinations and
surveys.
Checking reliability, accuracy
Identifying conflicts and resolving differences
Identifying gaps in evidence
Interviews
Information from:
Those involved and
their line
management;
Witnesses;
Those observed or
involved prior to the
event e.g. inspection
& maintenance staff.

P bar Y Safety Consultants Alberta

Canada
 Interviews
Interviewing the person(s) involved and
witnesses to the accident is of prime
importance, ideally in familiar surroundings
so as not to make the person uncomfortable.
The interview style is important with
emphasis on prevention rather than blame.
The person(s) should give an account of
what happened in their terms rather than
the investigators.

P bar Y Safety Consultants Alberta

Canada
 Interviews

Interviews should be separate to stop

people from influencing each other.
Questions when asked should not be
intimidating as the investigator will be
seen as aggressive and reflecting a
blame culture.

P bar Y Safety Consultants Alberta

Canada
 Observation
The accident site should be inspected
as soon as possible after the accident.
Particular attention should/must be
given to:

Positions of people.
Personnel protective equipment (PPE).
Tools and equipment, plant or
substances in use.
Orderliness/Tidiness.

P bar Y Safety Consultants Alberta

Canada
 Documents
Documentation to be looked at includes:
Written instructions, procedures and risk
assessments which should have been in
operation and followed. The validity of these
documents may need to be checked by
interview. The main points to look for are:
Are they adequate/satisfactory?
Were they followed on this occasion?
Were people trained/competent to follow it?
Records of inspections, tests, examination and
surveys undertaken before the event. These
provide information on how and why the
circumstances leading to the event arose.

P bar Y Safety Consultants Alberta

Canada
 Determining Causes
Collect all information and facts which
surround the accident.
Immediate causes are obvious and easy to
find. They are brought about by unsafe acts
and conditions and are the ACTIVE
FAILURES. Unsafe acts show poor safety
attitudes and indicate a lack of proper training.
These unsafe acts and conditions are brought
about by the so called root causes. These are
the LATENT FAILURES and are brought about
by failures in organisation and the
managements safety system.

P bar Y Safety Consultants Alberta

Canada
Determine what changes are
needed

The investigation should determine what control

measures were absent, inadequate or not
implemented and so generate remedial action for
implementation to correct this.

P bar Y Safety Consultants Alberta

Canada
 Generally, remedial actions should
follow the hierarchy of risk control:

Eliminate Risks by substituting the dangerous

by the inherently less dangerous.
Combat risks at source by engineering controls
and giving collective protective measures
priority.
Minimise risk by designing suitable systems of
working.
Use PPE as a last resort.

P bar Y Safety Consultants Alberta

Canada
 Recording & Analysing
the Results
Recorded in a similar and systematic
manner.
Deal with immediate Provides a historical record of the accident.
risks.
Analysis of the causes and recommended
preventative protective measures should be
Select the level of listed.
investigation.
Completed as soon after the accident as
possible.
Investigate the event. Information on the accident and remedial
actions should be passed to all supervisors.
Appropriate preventative measures may
Record and analyse the also have to be implemented by such
results.
supervisors.
Investigation reports and accident statistics
Review the process. should be analysed from time to time to identify
common causes, features and trends not be
apparent from looking at events in isolation.

P bar Y Safety Consultants Alberta

Canada
 Reviewing the Process
Reviewing the accident/incident
Deal with immediate investigation process should
risks.
consider:
The results of investigations and
Select the level of
investigation. analysis.
The operation of the investigation
system (in terms of quality and
Investigate the event.
effectiveness).
Line managers should follow
Record and analyse the
results. through and action the findings
of investigations and analysis.
Review the process. Follow up systems should be
established where necessary to
keep progress under control.

P bar Y Safety Consultants Alberta

Canada
 The investigation system should be
examined from time to time to check
that it consistently delivers information
in accordance with the stated objectives
and standards. This usually requires:
Checking samples of investigation forms to
verify the standard of investigation and the
judgements made about causation and
prioritisation of remedial actions.
Checking the numbers of incidents, near
misses, injury and ill-health events;
Checking that all events are being reported.

P bar Y Safety Consultants Alberta

Canada