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Thousands of accidents occur throughout the United States every day. The failure of people, equipment, supplies, or surroundings to behave or react as expected causes most of them. Accident investigations determine how and why these failures occur. By using the information gained through an investigation, a similar, or perhaps more disastrous, accident may be prevented. It is important to conduct accident investigations with prevention in mind.
An accident investigation is a positive process! Our intent is prevention and correction by determining the root cause(s). We're trying to change the culture! It is never blame! In business and industry, blame is counter-productive.
Next, let's consider what accidents we need to investigate. If they are to serve their purpose, you've got to know about them. As a general rule, you should investigate:
 | All injuries ... even the very minor ones. |
| All accidents with potential for injury. |
| Property damage, product damage, and "near miss" situations so you can consider the root causes. |
| Every injury or illness entered on the OSHA Injury and Illness Log. |
How the investigation gets conducted is a matter of company policy and assigned responsibility. Some companies call an accident investigation team for every incident. In others, the safety director does the investigation. Sometimes, several people do an independent examination of the circumstances and all make entries on the investigation form. However it's done, two people really must be involved if at all possible. One is the injured or impacted employee. He or she can clear up a lot of confusion by telling what happened and why it occurred.
The other person who needs to be involved is the supervisor or team leader. He or she should be accountable for accidents in his/her area, hopefully knows the situation and the people best, has a personal interest in cause identification, can take immediate corrective action, and needs this opportunity to show leadership.
There are a wide variety of forms available for documenting accidents. For your convenience, our website has a to pick what works for you.
TIP FOR EFFECTIVE ACCIDENT INVESTIGATIONS: Determine WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, HOW, and WHY! The WHY will help you determine the root cause(s).
In addition to conducting your own, in-house accident investigations, you should be aware of the OSHA regulations, which require prompt reporting to your State OSHA program (or Federal OSHA, if your state does not have an approved program).
29 CFR Part 1904 requires the following:
Employers are required to report, within 8 hours after their occurrence, incidents which result in a worker fatality or multiple hospitalizations.
Incidents which result in three or more hospitalized employees are to be reported within 8 hours.
If the employer does not learn of a reportable incident at the time of its occurrence, the allotted reporting time begins as soon as the employer does obtain this information.
Even if an employment incident is not immediately reportable, if such an incident results in a death of an employee or the in-patient hospitalization of 3 or more employees within 30 days after the incident occurs, the employer is required to report such fatality/multiple hospitalization within 8 hours after learning of it.
OSHA also requires all “recordable” incidents to be reported on the .
If you have questions about the specifics of the OSHA 300 Log, contact your .
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