NEBOSH International General Certificate

Unit 1 Management of International Health and Safety

Element 8 Occupational Accident, Incident Investigation, Recording &
Reporting

1. Outline the benefits to an employer of conducting accident investigations. (8)

Answer

The benefits of conducting accident investigation are such as: the prevention of
similar accidents occurring in the future; to make a safer work environment;
facilitating compliance with legal requirements and obligations; an improvement
in the health and safety performance of the organization; an improvement in the
morale of the workforce and its attitude towards health and safety; the prevention
of business loss and the provision of evidence in the event of enforcement action
or a civil claims.

2. Outline the initial actions that should be taken following a major injury accident at
work. (8)

Answer

The initial actions that should be taken following a major injury accident at work
include: isolating the services; making the area safe and cordoning off; providing
first aid treatment if safe to do so; contacting the emergency services such as
ambulance and transporting the injured to the hospital; informing the next of kin;
notifying the regulatory authority; collecting initial evidence such as photographs
and sketches; collecting the names of witnesses and setting up the accident
investigation.

3. (a) Outline why an organization should have a system for the internal reporting of
accidents. (4)

(b) Identify the reasons why workers might not report accidents at work. (4)

Answer

(a) Reasons to report and record the accidents in an organisation include: the
compilation of accident statistics and the identification of trends; to satisfy
legal requirements; to identify weaknesses in the safety management system;
for use in civil claims or to satisfy insurance requirements; to help in the
identification and reduction of loss and to inform the review of risk
assessments.

(a) The reasons include: employees are not aware of reporting procedures; peer
pressure; a reluctance to take time off from the job in hand; job insecurity;

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 possible blame by management; retribution by management; ignoring
procedures; to avoid receiving first-aid or medical treatment for whatever
reasons; over-complicated reporting procedures and finally lack of obvious
management response to earlier reported accidents.

4. Outline the immediate & long term actions that should be taken following a serious
accident at work? (8)

Answer

The immediate action include: treat person if safe to do so; ring for an ambulance
& send to hospital; inform dependants; make area safe & cordon off ensuring
scene is not disturbed; notify enforcement authority; speak to any eye witnesses
and take photographs, statements and measurements.

The long term actions include: investigate the accident; identify the immediate
and root causes; make recommendations to prevent recurrence; report the causes
to the management; draw the action plan for implementation; verify the
effectiveness of the implementation and communicate the causes to all employees
etc.

5. Outline the information to be included in the incident investigation report. (8)

Answer

 date, time and location of incident;

 details of injured person such as name, position and department;
 details of injury;
 details of person investigated;
 brief details of accident/incident;
 details of machinery, chemicals and tools involved;
 immediate and root causes;
 details of first aid given;
 conclusions & recommendations;
 action to be taken with date of completion;
 details of witnesses etc.

6. (a) Identify four reasons why accidents should be reported and recorded. (4)
(b) Outline factors that may discourage employees from reporting accidents at
work. (4)

Answer

(a) Reasons to report and record the accidents in an organisation include: the
compilation of accident statistics and the identification of trends; to satisfy
legal requirements; to identify weaknesses in the safety management system;

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 for use in civil claims or to satisfy insurance requirements; to help in the
identification and reduction of loss and to inform the review of risk
assessments.

(b) The reasons include: employees are not aware of reporting procedures; peer
pressure; a reluctance to take time off from the job in hand; job insecurity;
possible blame by management; retribution by management; ignoring
procedures; to avoid receiving first-aid or medical treatment for whatever
reasons; over-complicated reporting procedures and finally lack of obvious
management response to earlier reported accidents.

7. A machine has leaked hot liquid into a work area. No-one has been injured.
Outline reasons why it is important for an organisation to investigate ‘near miss’
incidents. (8)

Answer

Investigation of ‘near-miss’ incidents helps in the identification of their underlying and

root causes; it might allow preventive action to be taken before something more serious
occurs; it helps in reducing the recurrences of similar incidents; it also gives the right
message that all failures are taken seriously by the employer and not just those that lead
to injury; it identifies the opportunities for improvement. Additionally, it is generally
accepted that ‘near misses’ far outnumber incidents resulting in injury and can therefore
produce more data from which a greater understanding of the deficiencies in existing
management systems such as risk assessments and safe systems of work can be identified
and rectified and finally it helps in improving the employee morale.