After completing this topic, you should be able to
[Topic title: Investigation Procedures and Fact-finding.] No two incidents are exactly alike. Similarly, depending on the nature and result of an incident, investigation procedures differ. For instance, if the incident is fatal, the agency who has health and safety regulatory authority over the location – such as the provincial Ministry of Labour, or the federal Labour Program – determines the administrative and investigative procedures.
On the other hand, if the investigation is a nonregulatory or internal investigation, a workplace party, such as a supervisor or a member of the health and safety committee, oversees the investigation.
Once an investigator is assigned, that person must define the scope of the investigation, and may need to assemble a team of investigators to conduct specific tasks.
The preliminary briefing of the investigation team should detail elements such as the incident description; the time, date, and location of the incident; and the environmental conditions. Damage estimates and number of persons injured and the nature of their injuries, normal operating procedures, and local and general maps should be noted. And a list of witnesses and their statements, pre-incident events, and post-incident conditions should also be included.
Once assembled, the investigation team will need access to the company's investigation kit. As an employee, if you don't know where the investigation kit is located or who's responsible for obtaining it, consult your company’s incident investigation and reporting procedures.
An incident investigation kit should contain a camera with sufficient flash memory, an audio recording device, or even a cellphone to do both. Additionally, there should be report forms and writing paper, barricade tape, a flashlight, a tape measure, work gloves, and fresh batteries.
Consider the situation that June, Peter, Maria, and James found themselves in. Collectively, they're responsible for maintenance at an industrial plant. Maria is head of maintenance and works in an office, away from the work site. Peter is a site manager. And June and James are maintenance workers; together, they set up the equipment used to carry out the maintenance work.
On this occasion, Peter and June are on site while James repaints one of the offices. June is assisting James with painting while Peter inspects other damage to the building. When the ladder James is standing on breaks, causing him to fall, he is badly injured and has to be rushed to the hospital.
At the time of the incident, June was standing close to James. Later, Peter hears from a colleague that James used paint cans to prop up the ladder. Maria wasn't present, but she's aware of James' questionable work habits.
To start their fact-finding mission, the investigation team must visit, inspect, and secure the site of the incident. Evidence at the incident site must not be disturbed until inspectors have had an opportunity to examine it, except to the extent necessary to contain or control a hazard to employees or the public.
If you're part of the investigation team, be sure to avoid subjecting yourself to hazardous conditions or environments that may exist at the incident site.
Each injured person and witness must be interviewed, including those who were present before and after the incident. Accurate records of each interview must be maintained.
To uncover the facts of any incident, the investigation team must schedule their investigation in a way that allows evidence to be gathered from several sources.
Witnesses should be interviewed as soon as possible after an incident. In the case of James' incident, the only two people who can be interviewed are June and James – June because she was present and witnessed the incident, and James, once he's available, because he was involved in the incident.
Regardless of what Peter heard from a colleague or what Maria knows about James' work practices, they didn’t witness the incident, so they shouldn't be interviewed immediately.
Besides interviewing witnesses, investigators should also make their own observations. This is why the scene of an incident should be inspected before any changes occur.
Investigative team members need to take photographs and make labeled sketches of the undisturbed scene, and all pertinent data on maps or layouts of the incident site must be recorded. Additionally, investigators must obtain copies of reports, forms, or work orders related to the incident.
It's useful to obtain documents describing normal operating procedures, flow diagrams, and inspection reports. Maintenance charts and reports of difficulties or abnormalities may also come in handy. They can tell investigators about the pre- and post-incident conditions, as well as the incident sequence.
As part of the investigation, it's also useful to document the locations of those injured, witnesses, tools, equipment, machinery, energy sources, and hazardous materials.
To safeguard investigative documentation, investigators must keep complete and accurate notes in a secure place.
Remember, every action taken by an investigator is an important step toward finding the best solution to prevent future incidents.
Now, take a moment to answer some practice questions. We'll pick up here when you’re done.
Which four actions are part of the incident investigation procedure?
Options:
Option 1: This option is correct. Injured persons and witnesses must be interviewed as soon as possible, and accurate records of the interviews kept.
Option 2: This option is correct. One of the first actions to take as part of the incident investigation report is to examine the incident site for evidence. It's important that the site not be disturbed prior to this inspection.
Option 3: This option is correct. Once a team is assembled, the investigator should give a preliminary briefing to the investigating team, including such elements as witness lists, location of incident, environmental conditions at the time, and the damage done.
Option 4: This option is incorrect. The incident investigation procedures seek to identify causes of the incident so that steps can be taken to avoid recurrence. It does not seek to assign blame.
Option 5: This option is correct. All documentation about an incident must be collected and kept in a safe place.
Correct answer(s):
Two items an incident investigation kit should contain are a flashlight and work gloves. Ideally, what additional items should be included?
Drag the items you would include in an incident investigation kit to the open kit.
Options:
Targets:
Barricade tape should be included in an incident investigation kit.
A box of matches are not needed in this incident investigation kit.
A tape measure should be included in an incident investigation kit.
Batteries should be included in an incident investigation kit.
A screwdriver is not needed in this incident investigation kit.
An audio recording device should be included in an incident investigation kit.
A camera with sufficient flash memory should be included in an incident investigation kit.
Report forms and writing paper should be included in an incident investigation kit.
Correct answer(s):
Which three actions should be performed during the fact-finding phase of an incident investigation?
Options:
Option 1: This option is correct. Photographs of the incident scene are a valuable source of evidence.
Option 2: This option is correct. Examining normal procedures can help identify what was different at the time of the incident and so may have contributed to it.
Option 3: This option is correct. Witnesses should be interviewed as soon as possible after the incident so that the incidents are fresh in their memory.
Option 4: This option is incorrect. Analysis of causation belongs to a later stage of the investigation. The purpose of fact finding is to collect the relevant data on which to base the analysis of causation.
Correct answer(s):
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