Investigation of accidents at work - What incidents should be investigated?

In general, everything related to incidents at work must be monitored by the administration of a company. However, there are several events of a different nature that, due to their possible impact on the normal development of the organization's activities, should be the subject of an investigation. Within this framework, a large part of the country's legislation provides for the investigation of at least those events whose impact or severity is relevant.

For example, when a death occurs in the workplace or accidents that cause severe damage to the health of workers occur, especially if they are recurring, investigation processes are surely required, which is required by the competent authorities in matters of occupational health and safety.

Generally, the competent authorities require a formal investigation and reports in this regard, in the following cases:

• Any accident with severe damage to the health of workers or death, incidents involving the collapse of structures and situations involving the use of hazardous substances.
• Incidents that result in workers requiring medical treatment.

Incidents that could have generated catastrophic damage, but did not. In this context, companies can establish standards that help determine the cases in which an incident should be the subject of a formal investigation (these standards must minimally comply with the requirements of the labor authorities). In this way, the occupational health and program of a company could establish, for example, the following criteria to activate an investigation and the corresponding report to the authorities:

• Any event that causes physical harm to workers, including those that require medical help, or causes prolonged interruptions of normal activities;
• Any event that requires recurring medical treatment;
• Any incident that goes against the company's accident prevention policy;
• Any event that has had the potential to cause physical damage to workers;
• Any event of serious damage to company property;
• Any event of poisoning by chemical substances;
• Any event that has generated a flood in the work environments;
• Any event that has generated a fire or explosion.

Critical factors in the incident and accident investigation process

Incidents that materialize in accidents are generally the result of several interacting factors, which is why area supervisors must undertake accident investigation in coordination with personnel specialized in occupational health and safety. In this way, they must focus on three essential factors: the human, the situational and the environmental or environment.

Human factors

Beyond the training they may have, due to their human nature, the attitudes and way of acting of the workers can become a source for the occurrence of incidents. Thus, the following questions should be asked when investigating the human factors related to an accident:

• What was the worker doing at the time of the incident?
• Was he doing a regular or special task?
• Was he doing maintenance work?
• Was he helping a partner?
• Was the worker performing his or her work in accordance with established procedures?
• Are the tasks or work procedures new?
• Was the area supervisor present?
• What was the employment status of the worker? Are you a seasonal, part-time, or full-time worker?
• How much experience did the worker have to perform the task he was developing?
• What was the worker's posture and location?
• Did any unsafe act contribute to the occurrence of the event?

Situational factors (unsafe conditions)

The analysis of possible unsafe conditions is a central element in the investigation of accidents, so the equipment and tools must be carefully examined. In this sense, the following questions should be asked when carrying out the analysis of situational factors:

• Was he being the machine properly?
• Were the controls working properly?
• Were the security measures working satisfactorily?
• Did the analysis of materials or equipment indicate how the accident occurred?
• What was the place or location of the incident?
• What tools, equipment or objects were involved in the incident?
• Was the right equipment available to do the job?
• Was personal protective equipment being used?
• Were the machinery guards in place?
• What time did the accident occur?
• What work shift were you operating at the time of the incident?

Environmental or surrounding factors

Environmental factors such as light or noise can increase the likelihood of an incident occurring. For example, if the reflection of light prevents a machine operator from seeing clearly, this could lead to an accident. Likewise, the noise generated by some machine could prevent hearing the movement of vehicles or people in the work area.

• Those that result in damage that generates a loss of time beyond the day of the incident;
• Those in which the personal damages have been minor, but the potential damage has been high.
• Incidents with property damage greater than USD1,000;
• Incidents with loss of time resulting from the aggravation of previous damage.

In general, beyond the system used by a company to determine the severity of an incident, there is a legal obligation to report all incidents that result in personal injury to employees.

Legal requirements

Depending on the severity of an incident, the presence of physical damage and the jurisdiction where it occurred, certain reporting requirements to the competent authorities must be met. Certain types of events, such as those in which medical help is required or result in significant loss of time, must be reported to special instances related to workers' compensation mechanisms.

Investigation of incidents and accidents in occupational health and safety

Incident investigation is a fundamental component of any organization's occupational health and safety program. Different studies identify the benefits of incident investigation as follows:

Direct determination of the causes: An investigation reveals the direct causes of an incident, allowing corrective measures to be established.

Identification of associated factors: Incidents can be the result of many factors, for example, the direct cause of an incident can be the inadequate use of protective equipment on the machines, however, there can also be associated factors, such as the lack of training in handling equipment.

Prevention of similar incidents: Once the direct causes and associated factors are identified, corrective measures such as training programs or improvements in the design of equipment or workplaces are implemented to prevent similar incidents in the future. 

Creation of permanent reports: The reports generated in an investigation can be used by the human resources area and occupational health and safety specialists to identify trends related to the frequency of incidents, inadequate plant design and layout, inadequate operating procedures, etc. Reports are also important in situations where compensation disputes or claims arise. The actions taken to improve occupational health and safety records contribute decisively to adequately allocate monetary, human and equipment resources to the areas with the highest frequency of accidents or to those where the effects are most harmful.

Determination of associated costs: The reports help to understand a certain situation more precisely and therefore to quantify and determine the costs associated with the occurrence of an incident. All factors, including lost time by workers, damage to equipment and machinery, loss of supplies and materials, etc. they are likely to be quantified, a task that can be better accomplished from the reports that are part of the incident investigation.

Promotes a culture of employee safety: When an incident investigation is conducted appropriately, it signals to workers that top management takes occupational health and safety seriously, seeking to maintain the well-being of employees. The foregoing motivates the company's workers, regardless of the area where they work or their rank, to have a greater commitment to good safety and health practices in the workplace.