Guidance highlights pitfalls in accident investigations

As part of its contribution to European Health and safety week in October the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) has published new guidance on investigating incidents.

RoSPA points out that while many organisations have made progress in risk assessment many are failing to adopt a professional approach to accident and incident investigation.

The guidance lists the essential steps required for successful incident investigation and also points out the major pitfalls These include:

* no reporting of accidents and 'near misses' (often due to employee fear of consequences);

* no investigation at all (coupled with massive under-reporting to enforcing authorities);

* no clear procedures for investigation (and/or no managerial involvement);

* no workforce involvement (although trades union safety reps have a legal right to investigate accidents);

* no scaling of the level of investigation (for example, according to safety significance or learning potential);

* failure to gather all the relevant facts;

* no use of structured methods to integrate evidence;

* distortions in evidence gathering and analysis due to uncritical biases;

* concluding the investigation too early;

* simply focusing on individual error;

* no search for 'root causes' and no examination of safety management system failures;

* failure to think outside conventional rules and operating systems;

* poor communication of 'lessons learned'; and

* failure to secure closure on resulting recommendations

The full text of the guidance can be found on the RoSPA website at www. rospa.co.uk/accfull2.htm

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