Incident Reporting and Investigation

EHS Coordinators are responsible for ensuring that work related incidents shall be recorded, investigated, and analyzed in line with the organization’s incident investigation methodology and that necessary corrective and preventive actions are taken and effectively implemented.

EHS Manager/ Officershall conduct incident investigations and interviews with witnesses or any other affected person and, if possible, with the victim(s), 24 review the incident report and analyze it in order to properly advise the Chief Operating Officer in identifying corrective and preventive actions and the necessary resources to effectively implement.

The assigned emergency coordinator will report all reportable incidents to the civil defense, police & ambulance services.

Incident Scene Preservation

The scene of the incident must not be disturbed until a full investigation has been concluded, except when the scene must be disturbed or made safe for the purpose of protecting the health and safety of a person, aiding an injured person involved in an incident, taking action to make the site safe or to prevent a further occurrence of an incident.

Incident Investigation and Documentation

When an incident has occurred, an investigation must be carried out within 24 hours of the event by the Emergency response team and respective Dean, Director, or Manager.

All events leading up to the incident shall be reviewed. The investigation shall:

• Identify causes or contributing factors including design, environmental, behavior or management factors.
• Identify problem areas or particular hazards.
• Recommended corrective actions.
• Provide information that can be used to formulate preventive actions.
• Provide information that can be used to analyze the need for training programs.

All investigations shall be documented and maintained. Identified corrective actions and opportunities for preventive actions shall be documented and assessed prior to implementation.

Investigation Process

An immediate inspection of the scene should be conducted. Inspection should provide an objective assessment of the severity of the incident.

Establishment of the events leading up to the incident. This may include:

• What was the system of work being carried out?
• What were the instructions given for the work?
• Were there any variations for the instructions of safe work system?
• What where the workplace conditions such as lighting, floor surface, and stair treads, warning signs and weather conditions if the incident occurred outside?
• What was the exact location of the incident?
• What type of transport or equipment was used?

Facts of the incident itself:

• The state of the systems and the actions that occurred at the moment of the incident.
• Who were the persons directly involved and those involved at a distance, if any?
• What tools, equipment, material and fixtures were directly concerned?
• Time of the incident.

Relevant facts of what occurred immediately after the incident.

• The injury or damage directly resulting from the incident.
• The events leading to consequential injury or damage.
• The persons involved, including those rendering first aid.
• Any problems in dealing with the injuries or damage.

Reporting Process

The EHS Manager/ Officer will ensure that the Incident Reporting Form (Refer to Appendix F) is completed by EHS Coordinators for each incident within 24 hrs. After completion the form shall be forwarded to the COO for review.