Accident Investigation

Around the world accident is frequently happened, many accident such as cars accident, trains accident, aircrafts accident, ships accident, worker accident in workplace . We know that the accident is unplanned, unpredictable, undesirable even like that we can understanding to know what cause of factors contributed by Accident Investigation. Accident Investigation is tool used to find out what kind of the accident, Who is get accident, when is accident happen, where is accident happen, Why the accident happen, and How can accident happen. It useful to reduce and avoid any similar accident happen in the future. Remember Five's W and (one H) question to explore accident happen.
Several reasons to investigate in a workplace accident include:

1. most importantly, to find out the cause of accidents and to prevent similar accidents in the future.
   
2. to fulfill any legal requirements.
   
3. to determine the cost of an accident.
   
4. to determine compliance with applicable safety regulations.
   
5. to process workers' compensation claims.

Who should do the accident Investigation?
In most cases, the supervisor should help investigate the event. Other members of the team can include:

• employees with knowledge of the work.
  
• safety officer.
  
• health and safety committee.
  
• union representative, if applicable.
  
• employees with experience in investigations.
  
• "outside" expert.
  
• representative from local government.

Why look for the "root cause"?
An investigator who believes that accidents are caused by unsafe conditions will likely try to uncover conditions as causes. On the other hand, one who believes they are caused by unsafe acts will attempt to find the human errors that are causes. Therefore, it is necessary to examine some underlying factors in a chain of events that ends in an accident.

The important point is that even in the most seemingly straightforward accidents, seldom, if ever, is there only a single cause. For example, an "investigation" which concludes that an accident was due to worker carelessness, and goes no further, fails to seek answers to several important questions such as:

• Was the worker distracted? If yes, why was the worker distracted?
  
• Was a safe work procedure being followed? If not, why not?
  
• Were safety devices in order? If not, why not?
  
• Was the worker trained? If not, why not?

What are the steps involved in investigating an accident?
The accident investigation process involves the following steps:

• Report the accident occurrence to a designated person within the organization.
  
• Provide first aid and medical care to injured person(s) and prevent further injuries or damage.
  
• Investigate the accident.
  
• Identify the causes.
  
• Report the findings.
  
• Develop a plan for corrective action.
  
• Implement the plan.
  
• Evaluate the effectiveness of the corrective.

Accident Investigate Approach
As with most other tasks, skill in conducting effective accident investigations improves with experience. A good basic approach is to find out what caused the accident and what can be done to prevent or minimize the chances of a similar accident occurring. Some suggestions that may help supervisors get the facts and reach a conclusion include:

• Maintain objectivity throughout the investigation. Its purpose is to find the cause of the accident, not to assign blame for its occurrence.
  
• Check the accident site and circumstances thoroughly before anything is changed.
  
• Discuss the accident with the injured person, but only after first aid or medical treatment has been given (see Section A1, Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses). Also talk with anyone who witnessed the accident and those familiar with conditions immediately before and after it occurred.
  
• Be thorough. Small details may point to the real cause.
  
• Reconstruct the events that resulted in the accident, considering all possible causes. Determine unsafe conditions or actions that separately or in combination were contributing factors.

What To Do With The Results

Supervisors should take action to control or eliminate the conditions that caused the accident once these have been conclusively identified. EHS can provide assistance in determining the level of action that may be necessary, such as the following:

• When equipment changes or safeguards are necessary, supervisors should discuss specific recommendations with Department management;
  
• When an operation can be changed to eliminate the hazard, supervisors should make the change if it is within their authority, or seek the necessary approval from Department management;
  
• If unsafe acts by workers are involved, ensure that the worker is properly trained and that training is followed. All others involved in similar operations should be trained as well.

Roles and Responsibilities
Department

• Ensure accidents involving their operations or workers are investigated.
  
• Ensure corrective actions are taken.

Supervisors

• Particpate in incident investigations.
  
• Take corrective actions.

EHS

• Investigate incidents promptly and thoroughly.
  
• Issue accident investigation reports.
  
• Provide training in investigation methods and techniques when requested.

Individual

• Cooperate with supervisors and others during investigations

References:
web.princeton.edu
www.ccohs.ca