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Accident Investigation
Accidents and incidents are an unfortunate reality of the workplace, and it is both a moral and a legal requirement that businesses undertake a full and proper accident investigation to determine the true causes and rectify them.
Our accident investigation course is aimed at those persons responsible for leading or participating in accident investigations, and aims to equip them with the broad base of skills needed to undertake the task along with how to reduce the risk of expensive litigation and criminal proceedings, and establish the importance of correct methods of accident investigation. It will also help those who may be involved in the process such as supervisors, managers and directors.
What Does the Accident Investigation Course Cover?
The syllabus of the Accident Investigation covers relevant issues such as:
- Who should be involved in accident investigation and when it should start
- What should be reported to the enforcing authorities (including RIDDOR)
- The role of the enforcing authorities in accident investigation
- Collecting and analysing evidence
- Techniques to carry out basic interviews and compile acceptable witness statements
- Understanding the concept of causal analysis - Immediate, Underlying and Root causes
What Will The Accident Investigation Course Give Me?
At the conclusion of the Accident Investigation course, delegates will have a good understanding of the basic accident investigation process.
They will also be able to take the initiative in finding out what went wrong, why, and how to make sure that it does not happen again.
Course Tutors
Our health and safety consultants are qualified and experienced professionals with an appropriate background in this topic.
All course tutors are experienced in delivering engaging health and safety training, and hold professional membership of the chartered Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH).
In-House Courses
This course is primarily delivered in-house at your premises. The course content can be tailored to your specific requirements, taking into account the specific dangers and working practices of your particular company and industry. It can also be combined with one or more other courses to create a truly bespoke training programme for your employees.
For more information please call 0844 800 3295 or send us an online contact form with a description of your training requirements by clicking the button below.
Frequently Asked Questions
Our Accident Investigation open course is delivered over one day.
When run as an in-house course, an advanced version is available lasting 2 days which involves a practical accident investigation scenario and a more detailed module on witness statements.
Each delegate will be issued with a workbook to assist them both during and after the course, which will contain information, guidance and forms to assist accident investigations and investigators.
The course is designed to be interactive, allowing delegates the opportunity to develop their skills with the support of the course tutor.
Scheduled Courses
Our Accident Investigation course is not currently scheduled as an open course, and is currently only available as an in-house course where we come to your premises and deliver the training for a number of your employees.
For more information, and to discuss your training requirements further, please call us on 0844 800 3295 or send us an online contact form.
Article: Remedial Action After Accident Investigation
Once an accident investigation has taken place, it is important that the information learned is used to make changes to health and safety policy or procedures in order to prevent a similar sort of accident from occurring again in the future, which may be more serious than this one. After all the primary purpose of investigating the accident is to establish the causes and to take appropriate action, as by this time it is already too late to do anything to prevent this particular incident!
The findings are likely to include both short-term and long-term suggestions for improvement, depending on what sort of incident has taken place. The short-term improvements will include such things as fixing safety guards on machinery, introducing new warning signs etc. Longer term, the entire attitude of workers with regards to safety may need to be changed if it has become the norm to take shortcuts or not bother with using protective equipment. It may be the case that pressure from managers to achieve targets has contributed to this culture. Having workers attend health and safety courses can remind them of the dangers that exist in the workplace that they may have forgotten or started to take for granted, along with making them more aware of their safety responsibilities, both to themselves and those around them.
It is important that any changes that are introduced as a result of the accident investigation findings are closely monitored and evaluated soon after being introduced to check their effectiveness. These changes may also have created new health and safety issues and potential risks which will need to be addressed. For example, altering the layout of the workspace to incorporate new safety features may now obstruct fire escape routes. Workers will also need to be trained in how to safely operate any new machinery, or perform tasks such as being a fire marshall if they have now been given that responsibility.
