What are the steps involved in investigating an accident?
• Report the accident occurrence to a designated person within the organization • Provide first aid and medical care to injured person(s) • Investigate the accident • Identify the causes • Report the findings • Develop a plan for corrective action • Implement the plan • Evaluate the effectiveness of the corrective action • Make changes for continuous improvement As little time as possible should be lost between the moment of an accident or near miss and the beginning of the investigation. In this way, one is most likely to be able to observe the conditions as they were at the time, prevent disturbance of evidence, and identify witnesses. The tools that members of the investigating team may need (pencil, paper, camera, film, camera flash, tape measure, etc.) should be immediately available so that no time is wasted. What are emergency procedures and how are they established? Emergency procedures are plans for dealing with emergencies such as fires, explosions, major releases of hazardou
