Deciding what is to be investigated:All accidents and incidents should be carefully investigated. Not only do investigations provide information which might be needed by OSH, ACC, doctors or others, but reviewing the investigation helps you identify new hazards.
The Accident Investigation is your internal investigation and its purpose is to determine both the real causes of the accident and what can be done to prevent hazards identified from harming people in the future. It is separate from the OSH reporting that requires specified information required to be sent to the government department.
The investigation will probably involve:
Deciding what is to be investigated.
Entering the details of what has been investigated and initial findings.
Deciding on causes and recommendations and completing the investigation.
Deciding what is to be investigated:
When looking for evidence of what happened in an incident, write down a list of the types of nouns involved. For example, the location, the injured person, the task they were doing at the time, witnesses, the time, etc. Each of these elements is then investigated separately to see what facts come to light.
Entering the details of what is being investigated and initial findings:
If the incident record is not already open, click the Incidents
icon on the toolbar. The Browse Accidents and Incidents screen opens. Select the incident or accident and click Change. The Change an Accident/Incident Record screen opens.
Select the Investigation tab and enter the date the investigation started and the name of the investigator.
Select the Elements Investigated subtab and click Add Element. The Elements of the Investigation screen opens.
In the Investigation Details tab of the Elements of the Investigation screen enter the details of the element to be investigated.
Select the Findings tab and type the specific findings relating to this element
Click OK.
Repeat steps 3 to 6 for each element to be investigated.
Click OK to exit or select another tab to continue adding information about the accident or incident.
Deciding on cause and recommendations:
The primary objective of an investigation is to reach a conclusion, based on the facts found, and make recommendations for the future. When all evidence has been gathered and cross-referenced against all known information, the summary or conclusion is reached and should be recorded.
To record the summary or conclusions and recommendations:
Click the Incidents icon on the toolbar. The Browse Accidents and Incidents screen opens.
Select the incident or accident and click Change. The Change an Accident/Incident Record screen opens.
Select the Investigation tab.
Enter the date the investigation was completed in the Date Completed field using the lookup 
button.
Type the summary of the investigation in the Summary of investigation field.
Click OK.
Once an investigation is completed, the accident has a 
placed next to it on the Browse Accidents and Incidents list.
Recording an accident investigation
