WHS Incident Investigations

Employers should investigate workplace injury, incidents, near misses and occurrences as part of their duty of care and due diligence requirements. The Model Act and Regulations require that certain incidents are notified to the Workplace / Electrical Regulator (jurisdictional specific).

Additionally, the PCBU is required to take all reasonable actions in accordance with the hierarchy of control to identify, assess, control and review corrective actions and mitigations to prevent a re-occurrence of the incident.

This is one of the courses from our suite of health and safety courses we have on offer being delivered by one of our Qualified Safety Consultants. Training is a key element of the businesses safety management system.

WHS Incident Investigations Overview

Our Engineering and Safety Consultants can provide third party unbiased and objective incident investigations and support services to your organisation. Our consultants have the necessary skills, knowledge and experience required to conduct an independent incident investigation.

No matter how seriously any organisation takes workplace safety, incidents can and often do occur. Any incidents and/or near misses must be thoroughly investigated to establish the Root Causes. From our experience we believe that any serious incident or near miss will have numerous root causes that unfortunately come together at the one moment in time.

Finding the root causes of workplace accidents is a key step in preventing future recurrence. Our team of trusted investigators can assist you in finding the causes of your workplace incidents and provide practicable recommendations to assist in making systems more robust and reduce the risk of re occurrence.

Serious injury and/or fatalities can occur during such events. The Safety Consultant can assist any organisation identify root causes by analysing the incident and putting strategies in place to prevent a potential re-occurrence. We follow a structured process in identifying and recording the critical information, conducting interviews, analyse the data, determining surface & root causes, and developing recommendations.

This training is provided by a qualified Safety Consultant and is especially helpful to Health and Safety Representatives to better understand the legislation so that they can assist Management to develop strategies to protect workers.

Types of Incident Investigations our Engineering and Safety Consultant Support.

Our certified consultants can support by:
– Leading the incident investigation team,
– Supporting and coaching the investigation team, or
– Critically reviewing a completed investigation and providing feedback.

Why is an external team lead by a Consultant helpful when completing an Incident Investigation?

Securing the services of a third-party investigation team lead by a qualified Engineering or Safety Consultant ensures an objective investigation is conducted. Our investigation team applies unbiased, systematic, and approved methodologies and perspectives added to the provision of sound actionable recommendations to close out system gaps identified.

Benefits include
– Meeting your duty of care and due diligence
– Providing a safer working environment
– Managing workplace incidents and injury
– Identifying corrective actions and solutions
– Managing regulatory and reputational risk

Competent Incident Investigations work to prevent repeat incidents

Many organisations do not have skilled investigators with the experience and qualifications of an Engineering or Safety Consultant on their staff and when a serious incident occurs, they are unsure how to respond. Investigations into potentially serious incidents should be conducted by skilled investigators so that a systematic process is followed and all WHS legal requirements are satisfied.

Work with objective incident investigators

It is essential that investigations are conducted in a professional and objective manner, without blaming staff, and without pre-conceived biases. Too often we see investigation reports which are clearly biased against individuals or departments. Our team are skilled at conducting ‘no blame’ investigations that look for the real underlying ‘systemic’ causes of the incident.

Incident investigations provided by DRA

As part of the ongoing relationships with our clients, we offer standing arrangements to lead or support teams on incident investigations where serious or potentially serious incidents have occurred. We also offer one-off investigation services where this is required. On completion of an investigation our clients will receive a detailed investigation report along with recommendations for preventing a recurrence of the incident.

Incident Investigation support

Our consultants provide support and guide you through the following steps of the incident investigation process:

– Scene management and assessment: Ensuring that the area where the incident occurred is secure and safe for investigators.
– Witness management: Providing assistance in identifying witnesses, limiting interaction among them and overseeing interviews.
– Data collection: Assisting with the gathering of physical evidence, ensuring legal requirements are fulfilled, and reviewing related documentation.
– Data analysis: Drawing on our experience and expertise to carry out a full analysis.
– Root cause identification: Considering the task, materials and equipment used, the work environment, the personnel involved, and management factors, understanding that there is seldom one root cause.
– Findings report and recommendations: Making certain that the report represents events fairly and accurately and contains concrete, sensible recommendations designed to prevent similar incidents.

Our consultants are experienced in causation models and incident investigation techniques and can help lay the groundwork for an efficient investigatory process even before an accident takes place, ensuring that no time is lost between the event and the start of investigations and that the team conducting the inquiry includes the right combination of individuals.

We offer a range of health and safety courses, safety training and WHS consultancy services.