Digging deep into the circumstances of an accident will help you prevent future accidents in your workplace—ultimately helping your organization avoid unnecessary financial costs and helping your employees and their families avoid personal hardship.
Accidents don’t “just happen.” They’re caused by a series of unsafe behaviors, steps or events.
Most of these factors can be controlled once you’ve investigated the accident and identified them. You may realize you need to take steps to eliminate hazards or improve the workflow. You may identify a need for training, enforcing housekeeping rules or purchasing equipment to make the job less hazardous.
You may find, too, that demonstrating a commitment to employee safety and well-being produces other benefits reflected by more positive employee attitudes about safety and even performance.
The best way to get your organization started doing accident investigations is to have a program in place so you’re ready to act when an accident does happen. Below are some steps to help you set up your program.
Then, to actually investigate an accident, you’ll need to use the systematic approach make sure to cover all the bases and arrive at conclusions and action steps that ultimately produce the results you are looking.
1. Determine who should do the investigating.
Accident investigations are not complex or mysterious. However, the person doing the investigating should have a basic understanding of the job functions and efficient problem-solving techniques. Consider involving supervisors in accident investigations. The supervisor is often well-suited because he or she:
Was there when it happened.
Is accountable for the people and equipment.
Knows most if not all employees involved.
Understands the hazards of the job.
Will most likely be the person to implement corrective action.
Accident investigations can also be conducted by members of your safety committee, management,safety personnel or a third party.
2. Create a written plan.
Be sure to include:
The purpose of investigating accidents—
to identify causes,
not to place blame.
Who is responsible for initiating and conducting each accident investigation.
What must be investigated.
When, why, where and how to investigate.
Who will review the findings and other pointers clarifying the flow of information.
Who is responsible for implementing corrective actions.
Having all this in written form will help you in sharing and reviewing the plan with others. It will also, over the years ahead, help your organization stay consistently on track with the goal of finding and eliminating the causes of accidents.
Consider a policy committing your organization to investigating all accidents, as opposed to doing it selectively. Many of the companies with the best loss prevention track records have a “We investigate all accidents” policy.
3. Educate your supervisors about investigating.
This assumes, of course, that supervisors are the persons who will be doing the investigating. They’ll need to be acquainted with the four-point approach to accident investigations. (To investigate an accident, try this four-point approach)
When training on accident investigation, it may also be a good time to retrain your supervisors on their other safety responsibilities including:
Training new and existing employees in safe practices.
Enforcing safety rules and procedures.
Reporting injuries promptly and accurately.
Providing positive reinforcement of safe behaviors.
4. Communicate your accident investigation policy.
Depending on your organization, this may be a policy you should include in your employee handbook. It will formalize the procedures and communicate company wide your management’s commitment to investigating and preventing accidents.
This might also be a good time to let every employee know his or her responsibilities in the safety process, such as securing a situation immediately and notifying a supervisor.
Your investment of time in organizing and doing accident investigation is well worth it, yielding big returns for your organization in the long run. It’s a vital part of an effective loss prevention program, whether your organization is large or small, labor-intensive or office work.
By understanding why accidents happen in your workplace, taking corrective actions and thereby minimizing future injuries, you are helping build the foundation for a lasting culture of safety. Instead of paying all those direct and indirect costs of lost-time injuries, you’ll be receiving the direct and indirect rewards of effective loss prevention and a more appreciative, safety-focused workforce.