Accident Investigation Process comprises all the steps taken to arrive at the root cause of very accident. It is not supposed to be done haphazardly nor blindly; instead, it should follow a well-thought-out plan and procedure.
However in this article will give a blueprint which, if followed, could result in a successful accident investigation process. Let’s talk about “6 Steps for a Successful Accident Investigation Process“.
Before we go ahead, let us have a little recap of what an accident is.
What is an Accident
An accident could be said to be an unintended, unwanted, and unplanned event that could result in death, injury, or damage to human, material, equipment, or structure.
The consequence of any accident is always difficult to pre-determine; it can only be predicted; the consequence can later be minor or more severe.
Steps for a Successful Accident Investigation Process
Here are the practical steps you could follow to achieve a successful accident investigation process;
1. Secure the accident site
When there is an accident, arriving at the accident scene on time is directly proportional to the quality of the report you will get. This is important for various reasons:
- It will help you decide on the best immediate actions to take. Like, ensuring victims get proper medical care, calling for rescue where necessary, initiating evacuation, etc.
- It will help you secure the accident scene to ensure that no evidence is lost
- Have a first-hand view of the accident and the accident site
- Take pictures before some evidence is distorted
- Get very relevant information before people start planning for a cover-up.
2. Plan your investigation
After securing the accident site, it is time to start planning your incident investigation. At this point, you will need to spot out the IP (s), your primary witness, secondary witness, and tertiary witness if necessary.
Based on the background information you have already had, you will pick the angle you will have to look into. Like employee training registers, equipment routine inspection and service records, job supervision, workspace management, etc.
All these will serve as keys when you start gathering evidence.
3. Gather evidence
Based on your investigation plan, here is where you begin to act on your investigation plan.
Here are things you do at this point:
- It is at this point that you will need to go back to the pictures you took to re-access them.
- Take a look at the working space measurement you took
- Ask questions about the equipment or material that is linked to the accident
- Ask open-ended questions. People you ask questions include – Work supervisors, Foremen, IP (if conscious), your witnesses, etc.
- Access equipment
- Ask for records and documents that are relevant to the accident, etc.
4. Analyse your evidence
After getting all the information you need, it’s time to see how they add up. This is where you will be able to determine the root cause of the accident, the underlying cause, and the immediate causes.
Note: You cannot determine this alone; this is why accident investigation is mostly done as a team. The process of analysing your evidence requires brainstorming.
It is also important to mention here that an accident investigation is a fact-finding exercise, and not a fault-finding exercise. You should keep this in mind while analysing your evidence to help you think objectively.
5. Write your accident report
After analysing your data, you have to develop a very clear and understandable accident report. The report will cover the description of the accident, your findings, the immediate cause, underlying cause, and root cause.
To end the report, you will need to give recommendations and pick an action plan to implement each recommendation with a closed-out time.
6. Communicate
The accident report must be communicated to the top management, supervisors, the head of the department, and every other interested party.
This will provide a learning opportunity for everyone to prevent recurrence.
Conclusion
As already stated, accident investigation is a fact-finding exercise and not a fault-finding exercise, and to get facts, you must follow a well-structured process.
This is very important because if you do not get to the correct root cause of any accident, the aim of preventing re-occurrence will be defeated. So follow these Steps for a Successful Accident Investigation Process if you must get a good result.
Stay Safe!!!
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