Incident and accident investigation in construction sites

Incident and accident investigation involves identifying the root causes of an incident or accident and taking steps to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future. The following steps are typically involved in an incident or accident investigation:

• Secure the work area:

The first step in any incident or accident investigation is to secure the scene and ensure that everyone is safe. This may involve shutting down equipment or isolating the area to prevent further damage or injury.

• Gather information effectively :

Information should be gathered about the incident or accident. This may include interviewing witnesses, reviewing documentation, and examining physical evidence. You may note that these tasks will involve senior personnel with long and attested experience, especially in critical or substantial accidents, therefore you may not indulge yourself into this risky job without proper request and support from your management. Anyhow the steps that can be taken are as follows :

1. At the very early stage of the accident, identify any personnel who are injured and provide them with?immediate first aid?and medical attention. Call emergency services if needed.
2. Interview witnesses?individually to get an unbiased account of what happened, capturing as much detail as possible.
3. Examine the?incident area?and look for hazards, equipment failures, and?environmental factors?that may have contributed to the incident. Document with taking photos.
4. Collect physical evidence and secure any relevant equipment, materials, or objects that may have contributed to the incident. Keep them for future investigation.
5. Review Standard Operation (SOP) documentation, such as logbooks,?safety manuals, procedures, and policies related to the incident, to see if they were followed correctly.
6. Document all information gathered, such as?witness accounts, evidence collected, photos taken, and actions taken, writing down everything in chronological order.
7. In more advanced cases, recreate the?incident timeline, mapping out a step-by-step sequence of events leading up to and during the incident based on the gathered information.

By reiterating these steps, root causes can usually be identified, allowing for an analysis of the evidence, documentation, and timeline to determine all underlying reasons for the incident. An?official report?is always provided by the investigators, along with recommendations.

• Analyze the information:

The gathered information should be analyzed to determine the root causes of the incident or accident. This may involve using a variety of tools and techniques, such as a fishbone diagram or a 5-why analysis.

as an example :

1. Why was there a construction site accident?

Possible answer : The scaffolding collapsed.

2. Why did the scaffolding collapse?

Possible answer: The scaffolding was improperly constructed.

3. Why was the scaffolding improperly constructed, inspected, and certified?

Possible answer: The construction workers did not receive adequate

scaffolding training and supervision.

4. Why did the workers not receive adequate training and

supervision?

Possible answer: The company did not have a comprehensive safety program n place, therefore no budget was planned for training.

5. Why did the company not have a comprehensive safety

program in place?

Possible answer: The company placed more emphasis on meeting project deadlines than ensuring worker safety.

• Develop a corrective action plan:

Based on the analysis of the incident or accident, a corrective action plan should be developed to address the root causes of the incident or accident. This may involve implementing new procedures, modifying existing equipment, or providing additional training to employees.An investigation report must be generated and shared with all stakeholders, including employers, employees, regulatory agencies, and insurance providers.

• Implement the corrective action plan:

Workers at the site, engineers, supervisors, and whoever is involved must move into implementing corrective actions By modifying equipment or processes, changing work practices, and/or providing additional training to employees.