Investigating a work-related injury or illness? Here’s what you need to know.

What are Oregon OSHA’s key accident investigation requirements?

All employers must:

• Investigate all accidents to determine what caused them and to prevent them from happening again.
• Promptly install any safeguards or take any other corrective measures to prevent the accident from happening again.
• Record and preserve names of known witnesses to an accident.
• Preserve and identify any materials, tools, or equipment necessary to investigate the accident.

Who does the investigation?

Employers are responsible for ensuring that accident investigations happen promptly. However, any employee trained in accident investigation procedures can be part of the investigation team. There are also accident investigation requirements that apply to workplaces that have safety committees or hold safety meetings.

What are the accident investigation requirements for safety committees?

If your workplace has a safety committee, its members must be trained in accident investigation principles and know how to apply them. The safety committee must also:

• Work with management to establish accident investigation procedures to identify hazards that caused the injury or illness and ensure they are corrected.
  
• Evaluate all accident investigations and recommend how to prevent them from happening again.

What are the accident investigation requirements for workplaces that hold safety meetings?

If your workplace holds safety meetings, the meetings must include discussions of all accident investigations, their causes, and how to prevent them from happening again.

Seven tips to ensure your accident investigations are timely and effective

1. Establish a clearly written accident investigation policy. Include investigation objectives, procedures, responsibilities, and a statement that management will ensure the investigation is completed promptly and thoroughly.
2. Establish an investigation team. Any employee trained in accident investigation procedures can be part of the team.
3. Respond promptly to accidents. The investigation team must respond promptly to any accident that requires immediate medical attention. Ensure the area is secure, preserve any physical evidence, provide medical assistance, and notify management.
4. Collect information about the accident. Include the date, time, location, a description, interviews with employees and witnesses, and photographs of the accident scene.
5. Analyze the information. Identify the events leading up to the accident, the factors that contributed to the accident, and the underlying factors that caused the accident – the root causes.
6. Report the findings. Include the information you collected about the accident, recommendations for correcting the root causes, and deadlines for ensuring the root causes have been corrected. Present the report to management and the safety committee, and share it with employees. The safety committee must evaluate all accident investigations and recommend how to prevent the accidents from happening again.
7. Act on the report’s recommendations. Ensure that management follows through on the report’s recommendations and that the root causes are corrected by the deadline dates.

Where to learn more: Oregon OSHA offers free and flexible online training resources, including the Safety Committee Suite, which teaches you the fundamentals of conducting a workplace accident investigation.