In many businesses, the opportunity to learn from an accident is often lost due to not fully investigating the incident. This can lead to health and safety systems and processes being based on perceptions rather than fact. Many small to medium businesses sometimes struggling to find the time, lack the skills, knowledge or have not yet made the cultural shift where safety isn’t given the priority to undertake an in-depth investigation.

It is not uncommon to hear comments following an accident such as ‘it’s just common sense” or “he should have known that.” The problem with “common sense” is that it is not always that common and the problem with “he should have known that” is sometimes people simply don’t know what they don’t know and human nature being what it is, if they do know, they are often prepared to take a short cut because they have been able to get away with it before.

“Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it”
GEORGE SANTAYANA

All near misses, incidents and accidents should be reported. Accidents happen for a reason, it could be machine failure, unsafe work practices or poor housekeeping but reporting these occurrences can help identify the cause and help prevent this accident reoccurring. Accident reporting alone is not enough to prevent a reoccurrence, once reported an accident must be investigated as soon as possible.

The investigation process should carefully examine all aspects and failures that occurred in order to establish the root cause of the incident. It is only by carrying out investigations which identify root causal factors that organisations can learn from their past failures and prevent future ones. Simply dealing with immediate causal factors may provide a quick fix in the short term but over time the underlying/root causal factors that were not addressed will allow conditions to develop perhaps with more serious consequences.

It is important to remember that investigations should be conducted with accident prevention in mind, not the placing of blame. Only after the investigation has been completed is it appropriate to consider whether any individuals acted inappropriately.

For further information about Health & Safety and incident investigations, feel free to give SBS a call on 0508 424723.