Safety Trained Supervisor Incident Investigation and Reporting 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is the primary purpose of an incident investigation?
- Determine which employee was at fault
- Identify root causes and contributing factors to prevent recurrence (Correct answer)
- Complete insurance documentation
- Satisfy OSHA reporting only
Correct answer: Identify root causes and contributing factors to prevent recurrence
The primary purpose is identifying root causes to implement corrective actions preventing recurrence.
Effective investigations look beyond individual actions to systemic factors. Blame-focused investigations suppress reporting and prevent learning. Every incident is an improvement opportunity.
Question 2: What should be the FIRST action when an incident occurs?
- Collect witness statements
- Ensure safety of all personnel, provide first aid, and secure the scene (Correct answer)
- Notify management and legal
- Fill out the report form
Correct answer: Ensure safety of all personnel, provide first aid, and secure the scene
First priority is ensuring safety, providing first aid, and securing the scene to preserve evidence.
The sequence: ensure safety, provide medical care, secure the scene for evidence preservation, then notify appropriate parties. Physical evidence at the scene cannot be recreated once disturbed.
Question 3: Why is root cause analysis superior to identifying only the immediate cause?
- They are the same thing
- RCA identifies underlying systemic failures while immediate causes are surface-level triggers (Correct answer)
- RCA is simpler and faster
- RCA only applies to fatalities
Correct answer: RCA identifies underlying systemic failures while immediate causes are surface-level triggers
RCA looks beyond triggers to find systemic failures that would prevent similar incidents if corrected.
Methods include 5 Whys, fishbone diagrams, and fault tree analysis. Addressing only immediate causes fails because systemic factors remain. Effective RCA typically reveals multiple contributing root causes.
Question 4: What OSHA recordkeeping requirements apply to incident reporting?
- Only fatalities need reporting
- Fatalities within 8 hours; hospitalizations, amputations, or eye losses within 24 hours (Correct answer)
- Only for 100-plus employee companies
- Only annual summary required
Correct answer: Fatalities within 8 hours; hospitalizations, amputations, or eye losses within 24 hours
OSHA requires fatalities within 8 hours and hospitalizations, amputations, eye losses within 24 hours.
Reports via phone, local office, or online. Recordable injuries go on the OSHA 300 Log. Criteria include death, days away, restricted work, transfer, medical treatment beyond first aid, and loss of consciousness.
Question 5: What is the 5 Whys technique?
- Asking five witnesses why it happened
- Repeatedly asking why to drill from immediate cause to root cause (Correct answer)
- Identifying five causes and selecting the most likely
- Requiring five management approvals
Correct answer: Repeatedly asking why to drill from immediate cause to root cause
Repeatedly asking why to progressively uncover deeper causation until the root cause is found.
Developed by Toyota, typically requires 3-7 iterations. Multiple branches may be needed. The key is reaching a cause within organizational control that represents a systemic failure.
Question 6: Why should near misses be investigated with the same rigor as injuries?
- They are not important enough
- They reveal the same systemic weaknesses and allow fixing hazards before harm occurs (Correct answer)
- OSHA requires same level
- Only for insurance calculations
Correct answer: They reveal the same systemic weaknesses and allow fixing hazards before harm occurs
Near misses share the same root causes as injuries. The only difference is chance.
The Heinrich Triangle shows for every serious injury there are many more near misses from the same hazard pool. Investigating near misses provides the advantage of fixing hazards before anyone is harmed.
Safety Trained Supervisor Incident Investigation and Reporting 2
What is the primary purpose of an incident investigation?