Page 121 - IGC BOOK

Investing, Recording and Reporting Incidents 4.2

Introduction to Incident Investigation

Though an organisation has effective control measures in
place, sometimes situations may go worst, and accidents
tend to happen. It is significant to find out why they
happen, the incidents must be reported, recorded, and
investigated appropriately within the specified time.

The main aim of accident investigation is to prevent
accidents from happening again. The organisation needs
to identify the root cause of the accident so that corrective
actions can be implemented to prevent such accidents
again. Often the main thing that differentiates a near miss
or a minor injury accident from serious-injury accident is
the probability. A worker drops a hammer from scaffold which is missing a head of the worker
below, but it if it is happening again it may hit the worker head causing a serious harm or injury,
where there is a foreseeable probability, a thorough investigation must be initiated so that
potential incident can be prevented.

If we have a system for reporting near-miss events, the organisation might have number of
reported near-misses with more data available, this data will be incredibly helpful to identify the
weakness in the management system.

All the accident does not require in-depth investigation which is greater an effort to the
organisation and waste of time. However, all the accidents must be examined based on its
probability so that decision can be made whether it requires a detailed investigation.

Reasons for Investigation Accidents

• To identify immediate cause and root cause–accident are caused by unsafe acts and unsafe
conditions which arise from underlying or root causes.

• To prevent reoccurrence–introduce corrective actions so that accidents will not happen again
is a key factor in incident investigation.

• Recording–recording incidents data can be used as a reactive tool in the future.

• Legal Reasons–certain types of incidents need to be reported to the enforcement authority to
determine compliance with statutory requirements.

• Insurance Claims–insurance company will analyse accident investigation report to determine
the liability.

ENSIGN | Unit IG1 – Element 4 – Health and Safety Monitoring and Measuring 9