Well, it just so happens that incidents happen too. However, when an incident occurs, it’s not enough to simply say, “Incidents happen!” By following the proper procedures, you can prevent workplace incidents from happening again in the future!
Dust off your magnifying glass and dig out your old trench coat…
Because investigation is required whenever there is an injury, an illness, an environmental release, or a near miss.
Why investigate?
As if the opportunity to channel your inner Sherlock Holmes wasn’t enough of an incentive to perform incident investigations, I dug up some other important reasons. Incident investigations can help you to:
Prevent future incidents
Evaluate and improve internal programs
Comply with federal regulations
Reduce workers’ compensation costs
Incidents are COSTLY! There are direct costs and indirect costs of every incident.
Direct costs include:
Compensation payments
Medical costs
Insurance costs
Indirect costs include:
Time lost from job
Lost efficiency of co-workers
Manager’s lost time
Training new replacements
Negative press
“You know my methods, Watson.”
Every good detective knows that no two cases are identical, which means that there is no single method that works best for all cases. It’s best to be familiar with several different techniques; that way you can use whichever one best suits your needs for any given incident!
Some techniques include:
5 ‘Why’s
Failure Mode and Effect
3 ‘E’s (Education, Enforcement, Engineering)
MORT—Management Oversight and Risk Tree
Fishbone Diagrams
4 ‘M’s (Man, Machine, Media, and Management)
Don’t let anything slip through the cracks.
The most important steps to remember are:
Go to the incident site and perform a walkthrough
Conduct interviews from the “center” out
Ask for suggestions to prevent a reoccurrence
Document corrective actions, responsible parties, and target dates
Track implementation until corrective action is completed
Document the completion date
SHARE THE RESULTS WITH OTHERS
Tips and Tricks
Choose a location away from the public in a private room/area (Depending on the nature of the incident, the interview may be conducted at the incident scene.)
Conduct interviews one at a time
Do not refer to anything that another witness said
Take notes and be an active listener (listen more than talk)
State the objectives of the investigation
Remind the person that management is not trying to fix blame
Make sure the interview answers: who, what, where, when, and how.
Ask for suggestions on ways to prevent a reoccurrence
CASE CLOSED
The evidence is undeniable: Incident investigations are the best way to prevent future incidents, decrease incident-related costs, and—most importantly—keep your workers safe!
This is Smart Alex, exclaiming: “It was Scarlet! In the Study! With the Candlestick!