Don’t Forget to Include These 3 Things In Your Incident Investigations

This is a follow up to my previous blog on incident investigations in which I gave 2 primary reasons for doing them.  That’s all well and good but if you do them poorly you will not realize the benefits.  Now I’ve seen companies who have a nonchalant attitude about incident investigations who simply have the supervisor fill out the investigation form, turn it into the point person who then files it away.  Then again, I’ve seen companies who devote resources (time and personnel) to conduct thorough investigations immediately after occurrence and have a complete system so ensure the information is disseminated, timely actions are taken and followed up on at a set time to evaluate the effectiveness of the counter measures.  Let’s focus on what should be included in your incident investigations.

The investigation should include the facts, i.e. who, what, where, when, why.  That should come as no surprise.  However, there are other “fact” components that will take your investigation to the next level.  Here are 3 components that should be standard practice in your investigation:

Witness statements

Witness statements are important to conduct very early on as memories are basically worthless months later.  Do your best to get witness statements the same day or at the latest the very next day.  Much more beyond that and the memory and details start to fade and become less accurate.

Restatement and Follow Up Questions

Never ask a single question without following it up with another question.  This is necessary for clarification and verification.  For example, one question would be “What did you hurt?”  The answer may be “my lower back”.  Ok, that’s good but not enough.  The next to do is to restate the answer and then ask the follow up question.  Restatement: “I understand you hurt your lower back, correct?  Answer is “yes” Follow up question:  “Did you injure anything else?”  If the answer is no, document it.  This becomes very important if 6 months from now the employee starts to add in other body parts, i.e. my neck, my shoulder…   I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard of claims expanding and evolving to other body parts.  The best way to minimize this is to restate and then ask follow up questions.  If you have the worker put this down in their own writing the date and signature, you now have compelling evidence other than the investigator’s notes. 

Document the Scene

You’re not conducting a “CSI Investigation” with every little detail but you need to go to the scene where the incident happened and document what you see.  Was there liquid on the floor?  Was it icy?  Were the boxes stacked too tall?  If possible, get the information from the worker first and then go out and check the scene right after. Or even better and if possible investigate the scene with the injured worker—have them show you what happened and videotape this reference.   If the worker can’t come to the scene I recommend telling him or her that you are going out to the scene.  Bring another worker along to help you and to sign off on the report as a witness.  Two are better than one in the event the case becomes contested later on.  Do take video or pictures—if you have smartphone this should not be an issue.  Document “the what” of incident so that if needed this can be presented to the medical provider and/or attorney down the road.

Many employers pay more on claims than they needed to by not conducting proper and thorough investigations.  To keep things from getting overwhelming, you should be aware that you don’t need to thoroughly investigate everything.  For simple cuts and burns, the first report of injury can easily suffice.  For any injury involving sprain, strain, fracture and/or joint or spine should be a clear signal to complete a thorough investigation. 

Performing thorough, timely and effective investigative efforts within the first 24-48 hours can have an immediate impact on the outcome of the claim which in turn will have a very positive impact on your work comp program and insurance.

Keep in mind that the “fact” part of incident investigation is only one piece.  In order to learn from, prevent and improve work practices other steps must be included in the investigation process.  Those include identifying causative factors, determining corrective measures, implementation and measurement/assessment of the effectiveness of the implemented actions.  Consider applying apply lean or six sigma tools to incident investigations, especially if your company already utilizes them in other applications.