Investigating Incidents Flashcards
6 cards from real IOSH practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 6 Investigating Incidents flashcards as text
What is a 'safety alert' or 'safety bulletin' following an investigation?
Answer: A communication document sharing key findings and lessons from an incident investigation with relevant parties to prevent recurrence
A safety alert or bulletin is a communication tool used to share key findings, lessons learned and recommended actions from an incident investigation. It is distributed to relevant teams, sites, or even across an industry to ensure lessons are learned and similar incidents are prevented.
What is 'trend analysis' in the context of incident data?
Answer: Systematic examination of incident data over time to identify patterns, common causes and areas requiring attention
Trend analysis involves systematically reviewing incident data over time to identify patterns and trends — such as recurring types of incident, high-risk areas, common causes, time-of-day patterns, or groups of workers frequently involved. This proactive approach helps target improvement efforts.
How should recommendations from an incident investigation be prioritised?
Answer: Based on the level of risk, feasibility, cost-effectiveness, and potential to prevent recurrence of serious incidents
Recommendations should be prioritised based on: the severity of the risk being addressed, the likelihood of recurrence, the effectiveness of the proposed measure, feasibility of implementation, and the hierarchy of control (preferring higher-level controls). Urgent high-risk items should be addressed first.
What is an 'incident rate' and how is it calculated?
Answer: The number of incidents per a standard number of hours worked or employees, allowing comparison between organisations or time periods
An incident rate standardises incident numbers to allow meaningful comparison. Common formulae include: (number of incidents × 100,000) ÷ number of employees, or per 1,000,000 hours worked. This allows comparison between organisations of different sizes and between different time periods.
What role does management review play in the incident investigation process?
Answer: Senior management should review investigation findings, approve corrective actions, allocate resources, and ensure recommendations are implemented
Senior management review is essential to demonstrate leadership commitment, ensure adequate resources are allocated for corrective actions, remove organisational barriers to improvement, monitor implementation of recommendations, and embed lessons learned into the management system.
What is the difference between 'active' and 'reactive' monitoring following an incident?
Answer: Active monitoring proactively checks controls before incidents occur; reactive monitoring examines what happened after incidents to identify failures
Active (proactive) monitoring checks that safety controls, procedures and systems are in place and working before things go wrong (inspections, audits, safety tours). Reactive monitoring examines what happened after incidents have occurred (investigations, accident analysis, trend review). Both are essential.