Incident Investigation

Online Incident Investigation course | Conducting an effective Incident Investigation following an incident or near-miss in your workplace is a crucial part of health and safety management.  Investigating incidents in not about apportion blame but a vital part of understanding what has gone wrong in order that the correct remedial action can be taken.

Without an effective incident investigation the chance is invited that the wrong conclusions are drawn and remedial action does not reduce the underlying risks that will help prevent a reoccurrence.

It is important to note that the majority of workplace incidents are due to poor risk management and control measures.  In most investigated workplace incidents, management are considered to be wholly or partially responsible for failing to take the necessary precautions and safety measures to prevent the accident.  This is why it is so important for employers to stay alert when it comes to risk management.

Incident Investigation Course Aims

This course is designed to provide anyone who works to improve health and safety in the workplace.  It will provide them with the knowledge needed to uncover the root cause of incidents so they can put in place safer systems to make the workplace safety going forward.

Course Content

Section 1 | Accidents and Near Misses

Accident / Near Miss Causation, What is a near miss?, What is an accident?, Iceberg illustration, The Bird Triangle

Section 2 |  Investigation

Why investigate?, Accident and near miss investigation, Developing a plan, How to investigate, Interviewing a witness, Conducting an investigation

Section 3 | Accident Causation

Immediate causes, Basic causes, Lack of control, Write the report, Taking remedial action

Incident Investigation Course Certificate

Once you have achieve over 80% in the final short assessment you will be emailed your CPD accredited completion certificate.

What you get with Incident Investigation Online course

• CPD accredited certificate
• Access on phones, tablets or PC
• Net-zero carbon product
• Clear, concise interactive video training
• Carbon neutral product

Offset Certificate

What is a Workplace Incident?

The term ‘Incident’ in health & safety refers to both near misses and accidents.

So, what exactly is a near miss?

The technical definition is an unplanned and unwanted event which disrupts the work process and has the potential of resulting in injury, harm, or damage to persons or property.

In practical terms, a near miss disrupts the works process, but it does not result in an injury or damage.

Think of near misses as wakeup calls.  Employers should investigate near misses because they highlight inappropriately high risks that could have caused injuries or damage.

Example of a near miss: If a 50 kilogram carton falls from a 2 metre high rack and lands near a worker, this is a near miss.  It was unplanned, unwanted, and had the potential for injury, but nobody got hurt.

The difference between an accident and a near miss is that an accident results in injury and damage.   An accident stops the normal course of events and causes property damage or personal injury whether it is minor, serious, or fatal.  It is an unplanned, unwanted, but controllable event which disrupts the work process and causes injury to people.

The key word is ‘controllable’.  While everyone can agree that accidents are unplanned and unwanted, the idea that they are controllable might be a new concept.

Accidents being controllable means they are both predictable and preventable and therefore don’t have to happen. Most workplace injuries and illnesses are due to accidents.

Example of an accident: Let’s go back to the example of the 50kg carton on the 2m high shelf.  It falls for a second time, but this time, it hits and injures an employee.  Predictable?  Yes.  Preventable?  Yes.

Investigating why the carton fell initially should lead to a solution to prevent it from falling in the future.

An incident is the term for both accidents and near misses.

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COSHH  |    HEALTH & SAFETY FOR MANAGERS    |    WAREHOUSE SAFETY