Investigating Accidents in the Work Place

What is an Accident?

An “accident” in the work place can be identified as an event that interrupts the completion of a job that may or may not lead to an employee getting injured on the job requiring first aid treatment or any damage to property.

A “near miss” or an “incident” is an event that did not cause damage but had the potential to cause injury or damage.

Each circumstance should be investigated in the same manner for root cause and to prevent further injury to employees.

There should be a basic investigation check-list available so nothing is overlooked by the team doing the research.

Basic steps to investigating an accident:

• First find out exactly what happened.
• Second find the root cause of the incident.
• Then record the “who, what, when, where, and whys” of the accident. Exactly what did take place and all of the facts associated with it.
• Finally, determine whether any action in the past had been taken to prevent such a problem and if so, why the procedures failed this time.

What information should you attempt to acquire during the investigation.

• What were the employees doing at the time?
• Were these employees qualified to do this task?
• What were the company policies or procedures for this task and were they being followed?
• Did the employees use the proper tools; have the correct training and supervision?
• Find any witnesses and record their statements.
• Record the physical condition and location of the work area.
• Determine if any unsafe act may have contributed to this event. If so, was any disciplinary action taken for this incident and any other similar incident that may have happened in the past.
• Finally, make recommendations for any short and/or long term actions that can prevent this form happening again in the future.

For more information please call 866-362-2691 or e-mail us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or visit our website at www.westernfirstaid.com