The How and Why of Accident Investigation

 1.30 – Introduction  1.45 – Investigating Accidents and Incidents – HSG245  2.45 – Break for refreshments  3.00 – Selection of Accidents For Investigation by Enforcement Authorities and the Enforcement Management Model (EMM)  3.30 – The Insurance Industry Perspective  3.55 – Accident Investigation The View from the Top  4.10 – Q & A / discussions  Close

 Definitions ◦ Accident - an event that results in injury or ill health ◦ Near miss - an event that, while not causing harm, has the potential to cause injury or ill health ◦ Uncontrolled hazard (undesired circumstance) - a set of conditions or circumstances that have the potential to cause injury or ill health

 1.1 million working people were suffering from a work-related illness  173 workers killed at work  other injuries to employees were reported under RIDDOR  over-3-day absence injuries occurred  27 million working days were lost due to work-related illness and workplace injury  Workplace injuries and ill health (excluding cancer) cost society an estimated £13.4 billion in 2010/11 statistics/ Annual Figures 2011/2012

 An OPPORTUNITY not to be missed! You want to find out  What happened?  Who was involved?  Why it happened? – what were the events leading to the accident?  Has it happened before?  Has it nearly happened before?  How can you stop it happening again?  Why did a failure occur?  What can you learn about your H&S management system – how can it be improved?

 When you think you need to!  Decisions based on ◦ Severity of consequences (actual or potential) ◦ Likelihood of it happening again ◦ Your duty to your employees ◦ Your legal obligations...to be discussed further ?

 Accident book  Accident frequency  Patterns and trends  Insurance claims  Prosecution  Management and Development Opportunities  Improvement/investment identification

 RIDDOR requirements  Insurance company informed – N.B. their notification guidelines should be followed  Solicitors  Police !

 Know what to do when it happens  Take the guess work out of it  Keep consistent  Clear responsibilities  Clear lines of reporting  Have an investigation template ready to use  Clear procedure to follow – step-by-step  Policy for what to report, when, how, to whom and when to investigate  Who should be involved Respond Investigate Conclude Recommend Act Review Learn!