Accident / Incident Investigation

The purpose of investigating accidents / incidents is to:

• Identify underlying causation and to prevent reoccurrence;
• Provide all stake holders with a clear understanding of the immediate and organisational factors that have led to the event;
• Obtain evidence to allow for legal advisors to assess criminal and civil exposure;
• Liaise and assist the authorities in their enquiries;
• Provide press and public interest groups with a clear understanding of circumstances surrounding the event;

To ensure investigation is proportionate to the level of risk involved with the accident / incident, the following has been agreed as a consistent standard of investigation across the authority.

1. External providers should not be used to investigate accidents/incidents.
2. Health and Safety Advisors should be informed and will investigate:
   • Accidents / incidents leading to an employee being absent from work or being unable to continue their regular activities for more than 7 days;
   • Major injuries to employees, service users, visitors, contractors or members of public that have resulted out of or in connection to work activities;
   • Equipment failures with the potential to cause significant injury;
   • Dangerous occurrences (as outlined in RIDDOR);
   • Any other accident / incident deemed necessary of investigation by the Departmental Health and Safety Advisor.
3. Managers should be informed and investigate ALL accidents / incidents that do not fall in to one of the above categories

Minor accidents / incidents and near misses may not warrant a full in-depth investigation by a Health and Safety Advisor but they can indicate the future development of severe accidents / incidents and prompt you to introduce actions to prevent them arising. Therefore all accidents / incidents (including near misses, violent incidents and dangerous occurrences) should be investigated and the details recorded.

Firstly you should ensure that it is safe to enter the scene of the accident / incident and ensure that the injured person has received all required attention. You may be required to stop the activity or move it to a different location while the scene is examined.

Any item or material evidence involved at the scene should not be moved until it has been examined carefully, its exact location logged and photographed where possible. Evidence should subsequently be retained until it is no longer required.

First you need to establish:

• How the accident / incident occurred?
• Who was involved?
• What happened?
• Where did the accident / incident occur?
• When did the accident / incident occur?
• What was happening when the accident / incident occurred? (e.g. what activity was being completed or what piece of equipment was being used at the time?)
• Were there any witnesses? If so gather names and addresses and ask for witness statements to accompany the investigation (these can be gathered at a later date, however, they should be gathered as soon as possible to ensure clear statements are given).
• It may be necessary to sketch or photograph the scene to assist the investigation.

Download: Witness Statement template (.doc)

Look for possible immediate causes? Did any unsafe acts or conditions cause the event?

Examples of which could be:

• if equipment was being used at the time of the accident / incident – was the equipment faulty?
• Bad housekeeping or inadequate lighting in the area where the accident / incident occurred?

Determine if any underlying causes were apparent?

For example:

• Lack of knowledge or skills of staff?
• Inappropriate supervision?
• Inadequate maintenance?
• Was the person trained to use the piece of machinery?
• Was suitable and sufficient instructions and information given to the person to complete the task or activity?

After assessing what happened, why it happened and what were the possible causes both direct and indirect, you should determine what remedial actions should be implemented to prevent recurrence of the accident / incident. Record when these actions should be completed by and review on a regular basis.

For example:

• Do staff need to be retrained? When?
• Does the faulty piece of equipment need to be removed from use and labelled accordingly? If so should this be done immediately?
• Does the work environment need reorganising?
• Do working procedures need to be reviewed?
• Does your risk assessment need to be reviewed?

Complete the accident / incident form, record all investigations and attach to the accident / incident form and send a copy to the health and safety centre.

If further investigation / information is required your Health and Safety Advisor will contact you.

All accident / incident investigation reports that Health & Safety Advisors have undertaken will be presented to the Head of Service with responsibility where the accident / incident occurred. The Head of Service should liaise with the departmental Health and Safety Advisor, external providers should not be used for accident / incident investigations.

Causation accident / incident investigation and reports are not compiled for the purposes of defending civil claims, however, where appropriate will be presented to the claims investigator acting on behalf of Carmarthenshire County Council.