Accident/Incident Investigation Statistics … Typical Corrective Actions + More
Found an interesting old (2000) report from the UK HSE about incident/accident investigations. They had a contractor perform surveys about accident/incident investigation tools and results.
TYPE OF INVESTIGATION SYSTEM
It seems that homegrown investigation systems or no system were the most frequently used to investigate accidents/incidents.
CORRECTIVE ACTIONS
With that type of investigation system, it should be no surprise that the three top corrective actions were:
- Tell them to be more careful/aware.
- Training/refresher training
- Reinforce safe behavior (Is that discipline?)
That’s what we found back in the early 1990’s.
Think it has changed any today?
HOW MUCH TIME SPENT INVESTIGATING?
Another interesting fact. How long did people typically spend doing investigations?
- 42% took 5 hours or less
- 35% took 5 to 20 hours
- 18% took over 20 hours
Of course this is an old UK survey. Does it match up with your current experience?
INVESTIGATION TRAINING
One third of those polled had NO accident/incident investigation training. Most of the rest just had general health and safety training as part of IOSH or NEBOSH courses. Also, most people performing investigations were not dedicated health and safety professionals.
What do you think? Is this similar to your experience at your company?
EXAMPLES
The report then provided a review of example investigations that the researchers had reviewed. As an expert in root cause analysis, these were awful but typical. many just filled out a form. Others grilled people and decided what they thought were the causes and the corrective actions.
HOW ARE YOU DOING?
Are you 15 years behind with no system, no training, and bad results?
Then you need to attend a TapRooT® Course. See: http://www.taproot.com/courses
Have you started to improve but still have a long way to go? You might want to attend one of our public 5-Day TapRooT® Advanced Root Cause Analysis Team Leader Training Courses. See: http://www.taproot.com/store/5-Day-Courses/
Are you good to great but you want to be even better? The plan to attend the 2016 Global TapRooT® Summit in San Antonio, TX, on August 1-5. We’ll be posting more details about the Summit soon.
