ACCIDENT
INVESTIGATION
U nfortunately, in spite of
organizations best efforts,
accidents do happen. Once
they happen it is important to
report, record & investigate it
timely. Incidents and accidents
almost never result from one single
cause, most incidents/accidents
involve multiple, interrelated causal
factors.
“If you think safety is expensive,
try an accident” - Chairman of Easy
Group
Conducting an accident
investigation may have many
reasons listed below;
 To identify and describe the true
course of events & to find out the
cost of an accident
 To identify the cause of the
accident and/or incident to stop
it happening again
 To identify risk reducing
measures to prevent future,
comparable accidents
 To collect the information you
need to pass on to the enforcing
authority
 To get information needed for an
insurance claim
DGKCC HSE HUB BALOCHISTAN
Investigation is about avoiding it
happening again, not attributing
blame.
Remember: incidents that don’t
result in harm or loss still need to
be reported and investigated; an
incident might result in more
serious consequences if it were to
happen again.
Domino Theory, According to
Heinrich:
"A preventable accident is one of
five factors in a sequence that
results in an injury. The injury is
invariably caused by an accident
and the accident in turn is always
the result of the factor that
immediately pre cedes it."
The five factors in his accident
sequence are as under:
1. Ancestry and social environment
2. Fault of person
3. Unsafe act and/or mechanical or
physical hazard
4. Accident
5. Injury
During the investigation process
different methods should be used
in order to analyse arising problem
areas. Among the multi-disciplinary
investigation team, there should be
at least one member having good
knowledge about the different
accident investigation methods,
being able to choose the proper
methods for analysing the different
problems (Size of investigation
team depends on the size of
PREPARED: ANSAR ALI (AM HSE)
organization & the nature of the
accident). In investigation team we
may include, someone familiar with
the work location, a supervisor or
manager from the work location, a
health and safety specialist, a
person involved in the accident or
incident if it is possible, a technical
expert, etc.
You must report
 Deaths / Fatalities,
 Major injuries,
 Injuries that lead to more than
three days’ absence from work,
 Dangerous occurrences, e.g.
scaffold collapse, chemical
spillage and explosion or fire,
 Certain diseases, e.g. hepatitis
(infectious), legionellosis,
tuberculosis, rabies
Collecting evidence and facts
Collecting data is a critical part of
the investigation. Three key types
of evidence are collected during
the investigation process:
 Interviews (e.g. witness
statements, observations)
 Physical evidence (e.g.
equipment, debris, hardware)
 Documentary evidence (e.g.
paper and electronic information,
such as records, reports).
An investigation is not an end in
itself, but the first step in
preventing future adverse events. A
good investigation will enable you
to learn general lessons, which can
be applied across your
organisation.