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:
- Determine the cause of the accident
- 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.
