If you have an incident or accident and would like to learn from it, or if you think you may be investigated by the Regulator, call me (022 359 7233) to arrange your own investigation. Please do this as soon as possible, do not delay!
Once all injured people have been rescued, make any live equipment safe and then follow the basic steps below:
Preserve all perishable evidence. This means not disturbing anything unless absolutely necessary. Take lots of photos to record where things were. Start a time log.
- If any witnesses took photos or video, ask for a copy. Get their contact details.
- If the incident is Notifiable under health and safety legislation (if in doubt, assume it is) you must preserve and protect the scene until it is released by an Inspector. Definitely call me immediately (022 359 7233).
- Separate witnesses. It is very tempting to discuss what just happened but this will corrupt each person’s memory of what they saw/heard/felt etc. It is normal for each witness to want to fill in the gaps in their knowledge, but the result is a shared model of what happened, not what actually happened.
- Get each witness to write down what they remember – on their own! Start from the beginning of their day, not just the event. This will help in later interviews.
- Drug and alcohol test all workers even remotely involved. This needs to be done by an accredited provider.
- If you didn’t do it already – call me! 022 359 7233
Accident Investigation Form: