Accidents 101 Series - Why Investigate?

Welcome to the first blog in the Accidents 101 Series.  While every accident situation is unique, in this series I hope to present a systematic process for collecting information to determine how the accident happened.

Why Investigate An Accident?

There are two primary goals of accident investigation:

1. Determine the cause of the accident
2. Prevent it from happening again

Accident Investigation is critical in the risk management process.  It allows an operation to learn from its losses and increase the level of safety by controlling hazards that may not have been evident.  The ultimate goal of accident investigation is to uncover the causes of the accident, and implement changes to prevent a similar accident from occurring.  Your job as an investigator is to search for the details and analyze the information you have gathered to determine the causes, and to make recommendations for corrective actions.  Your job is not to fix blame on anyone or find fault.

Download your copy of a sample Accident Investigation Form here.

OSHA TIPS:  Reminder to post your OSHA Summary Logs February 1st through April 30, 2012 and update your MSDS sheets once every 12 months.

Got a minute?

We all know, in many cases, carwashing volume is way off as a result of several factors.  However, there are still busy days.  As in many businesses today, carwash owners are often trying to do more with less.  These are the times where accidents most likely occur. 

Example:  At a lube facility the normal procedure for rotating tires required two employees.  One of the main purposes of this process was to insure that no steps were missed. During a busy day one employee was removed from this process - result - woman lost tire while driving.  The investigation revealed that the lug nuts were never tightened.  This could have resulted in serious injury; luckily it was not the case. 

How could this apply to carwashing; there have been numerous claims where untrained drivers were used during a busy day resulting in personal injury and property damage incidents.

Moral of the story, procedures are designed to protect customers and employees. It is imperative that everyone at the wash understand that cutting corners, especially at a busy time, will result in increased risk!  I recommend highlighting this exposure to your employees with either a poster or an alert included in their paychecks.

OSHA Tip:  Bottles used for eyewash stations are not acceptable.  To meet OSHA standards the eyewash station must have a minimum of 15 minutes continuous water flow.