All companies at some point must conduct accident investigations, and each company must decide how thoroughly to investigate and how much time and attention should be paid to the investigations. Many companies perform excellent accident investigations, but then fail to take corrective actions to fix the problems. Other companies do the opposite—they fail to determine the underlying causes of the accident, but just try to produce a “quick fix.” Many techniques can be used to help companies and safety professionals to analyze accidents and feel assured that causes have been determined and corrective actions will prevent recurrence. This book presents techniques that can be applied to small, medium, and even largescale accident investigations. By using these analytical techniques, you can prevent accidents at your workplace.
The book is divided into four parts and includes an Appendix of
worksheets and charts. You may remove or copy these forms for your
own use.
Part I is an introduction to the accident sequence. This part focuses
on the theory of accidents, the accident sequence (sequence of events
that happen before and during an accident), and the analytical
approach to accidents. Research in the area of accidents, accident
sequence, accident theory, root cause, and analytical approaches is
discussed.
Part II describes the organization of accident investigations: starting the investigation, gaining knowledge about the accident, collecting evidence and data, and using appropriate investigative techniques. It includes instructions for gathering information, interviewing, documenting, preserving evidence, retrieving data, and analytically processing this information to determine exactly what happened.
Part III provides thorough explanations of analytical techniques
that are useful in investigating accidents. Numerous examples and
worksheets are included, and the benefits, weaknesses, and appropriateness
of each technique are discussed. Four chapters of Part III
are devoted to specific techniques, and a fifth covers other specialized
and computerized techniques.
Part IV is devoted to accident prevention. After you use analytical techniques to determine what happened, the next step is to use that information to prevent future accidents. This part covers accident documentation and follow-up activities, and tells how to develop recommendations and corrective actions.
Jeffrey S. Oakley