Involvement in the Investigation Process

 Who should carry out the investigation? Among those who may make an investigation are:

• The safety practitioner or one of his staff
• A member of management.
• The supervisor, foreman or chargehand.

Mangers

You will remember that many causes of accidents are due to management system, or rather the lack of effective system. The objective of any analysis or investigative report is to provide management with a means of deciding why their policies and procedures failed to prevent accidents, injuries and ill health. As it is management who ultimately make the decisions and allocate resources, it is vitally important that they are actively involved at every step of the procedures. 

Supervisor

Usually, it is the immediate supervisor of the injured person or the supervisor in whose department the damaged property belonged, who is better qualified to carry out the investigation than any other member of the management team, including the safety practitioners:

1. He is likely to know most about the situation so is best suited to carry out the enquiries necessary for the investigation to reach a satisfactory conclusion.
2. He should know his own workers  better than anyone else does.
3. He has a personal interest in establishing the causes of the accident because accidents affect the efficiency and morale of his department. He has to explain the consequences of work stoppage and personal injury to the members of his production team.

Employee's Representatives and Others

• Employee's Representatives

Employee's representative have the right to investigate both accident and ill-health incidents and this is usually carried out with approval of management.

• Safety Practitioner

In the case of serous accidents, the immediate supervisor may not have the necessary authority to conduct the investigation, so the company safety practitioner should be in charge of the investigation, although he will find it helpful to have the assistance of the supervisory staff. It is essential that the investigator has the authority to go as far as is necessary to get to the cause of the problem.

Typical Investigation Procedure

Details about investigation procedure:

• Typically performed by the supervisor for the section; if it is serious, then he/she call in specialist, such as the safety advisor or engineers.
• The supervisor or specialist should:

            -    Discuss and write a report of events from the injured person.

            -    Interview witnesses; check out any discrepancies.

            -    Make sketches and drawings; take photographs.

Joint investigation by management and union safety representatives can be extremely useful. Often, an inspector will accept such a joint investigation as adequate, and attend later.