How can you learn from safety incidents and prevent them from recurring?

A workplace incident is an event or occurrence that occurs within a workplace and has the potential to disrupt normal operations, cause harm to employees or visitors, or result in damage to property or equipment. Workplace incidents can take various forms, including accidents, injuries, near misses, property damage, fires, chemical spills, or any other unexpected events that compromise safety or work processes. Workplace incidents can range in severity from minor incidents, such as a slip and fall without serious injury, to major incidents, like a factory explosion causing extensive damage and injuries. It's essential for employers to track and report incidents to ensure the safety of employees and visitors.

Resolving an incident or accident begins with understanding what happened. The first thing to do is gather information about what went wrong, why it happened, and what the consequences were. In order to get a complete picture of the situation, it is important to collect as much information as possible. As part of this process, witnesses are interviewed, the scene is inspected, and any records that are available are reviewed. As a result, the root cause of the incident or accident can be identified, and potential solutions can be developed, adapted and deployed.

Work place is the area where workers, managers and other supporting staff are deployed to execute the work process for task completion. Every task exist hazards but at different risk level. Some hazards are critical some are moderate and some have very low severity to damage. Incidents are preventable but upto the acceptable level. When incident or near miss happened it need to be circulated amongs the workers along with the consequences as a lesson learnt also prepare a plan for good initiatives from workers site and start five star safety awards competition amongs different groups and award them with certificates to those who do safety compliance. Modify the jhas and work method statement accordingly.strong supervision.deliver training

A Process Safety Incident typically involves an unexpected mechanical integrity failure in a pipeline system or processing facility, often including a fire, explosion, rupture, or hazardous chemical leak Note: For example if the shell of Furnace sudden Crack and then rupture so after the incident RCFA ,a Lesson learn! is to follow the Inspection protocol ,mean carrying its thermography, to insure its material integrity and reliability. Thanks

An accident is an unforeseen and unintended event that occurs suddenly and often leads to adverse consequences. These adverse consequences can manifest in various forms, including ill health, injuries, or damage to property. Accidents can happen in various settings, such as at home, in the workplace, on the road, or during recreational activities, and they can result from a wide range of factors, including human error, mechanical failure, environmental conditions, or a combination of these.

As much as incidents aren't desired, they do provide valuable information. Incidents must be thoroughly investigated at the appropriate level with the view of unearthing all causes and implementing appropriate controls. This info can then be used to review applicable risk assessments and then added to training manuals, toolbox talks, etc. Both corrective and preventative controls must be emphasized to prevent a reoccurrence.

Each safety incidence give us a lesson to prevent them and it also accelerate our thoughts to look towards safety measures to take on priority.

La législation québécoise en SST départage les termes incidents et accidents. Un accident étant un évènement soudain attribuable à toute cause causant un préjudice corporel. Alors que l'incident est un évènement qui entraîne un bris, une perte matériel ou qui aurait pu occasionner une blessure, qu'on appelle également un "passé proche" .

One thing I have found helpfull is the implementation of a fully functional potential incident and near miss program. By monitoring work place behavior, functionality, housekeeping, employee attitudes towards safety, one can reduce and eventually illiminate events that could impact the normal operation of a work process. Continued awareness and toolbox talks around potential incidents will eventually become imprinted in employees with regards to incident awareness, thereby minimizing and reducing workplace incidents. It has been proven that potential incident awareness, measuring and monitoring programs have minimized real incidents in most work environments.

Effective root cause analysis is vital to it and then the communication amongst all interested parties within the organization.

We have dealt with businesses who failed to keep effective records of incidents and got penalised by the law for not doing enough. Keeping records of incidents helps you to identify patterns of accidents and injuries, so you can better assess and manage risk in your workplace. Proper record keeping will help you put effective safety measures in place so the incident doesn't repeat and employees are trained better due to the experience. This will also stop breaching health and safety law.

Reporting and recording of incident become written memories of every incidents. We need to calculate and make statistic of incident to learn what the root causes of the incident. By learn from what is already happening, we get more informations and experiences.

Reporting incidents is a proactive way to identify potential risks and hazards. By recording incidents, organizations can analyze trends and patterns, allowing them to implement preventive measures to minimize the likelihood of similar incidents occurring in the future. This contributes to creating a safer environment for employees, customers, and the community.

Reporting incidents are very important to identify system weaknesses of management system. Any inciden happened by deviating safe system layers. So, investigating of incidents can help to determine weaknesses and help us to close our system gaps.

Accident reporting is a vital practice encompassing legal compliance, record-keeping, incident prevention, and data-driven decision-making. It serves as the linchpin of regulatory adherence, ensuring organizations meet their legal obligations to safeguard the well-being of individuals. By maintaining detailed records, accident reports offer historical perspectives on incidents, aiding audits and investigations, and enabling organizations to learn from past experiences.

Reporting and recording of incidents which could include accidents/Injuries, sexual harassment and or grievance is very important because it promotes the welfare and safety of both employers and employees in the workplace. It is more so important for employers to have a reporting mechanism in place which is accessible to every employee. Equally, there is also the need for the employer to have a responsive approach in dealing with each case as they unfold by conducting the appropriate investigation and equally facilitate the referral of the affected person to the immediate services needed.

The implementation of such a program is easy enough. The real challenge comes to prevent reoccurrence of any incident. Apart from reporting and recording real incidents, it is crucial that preventative measures be put in place and enforced. Once again, I will be referring to a potential incident and near miss monitoring program, which must also be recorded and actioned to prevent real incidents. The old saying of prevention is better than cure, is very true here. Employees, safety personnel, managers, must be enlightened as to what can, and eventually will become an incident. Rectify any potential incidents before it becomes a near miss, eliminate near misses before it becomes an incident, and implement a safer, more viable solution.

Es necesario y obligatorio reportar los incidentes ocurridos en una determinada empresa, a fin de que con la brevedad posible del caso, se haga la respectiva investigación del incidente a fin de determinar las causas y los responsables que pudieran haber producido el mismo. Luego de analizado e investigado el incidente, se deberán tomar todas las medidas para que no vuelva a ocurrir un incidente de esas condiciones y características.

La déclaration d'événements contribue à dresser un portrait des risques présent dans un milieu de travail, mais aussi à donner des arguments lorsque vient le temps de motiver un changement auprès de gestionnaires. Il permet aussi de protéger les victimes advenant que les symptômes d'une blessure se manifestent tardivement.

To investigate an incident, the following steps must be followed: Secure the scene. Gather information and evidence. Interview witnesses. Analyze the data. Identify root causes. Develop corrective actions. Implement changes. Communicate findings and preventive measures. Monitor and review.

What we should avoid during incident investigation is jumping directly into the most possible root cause which lead into collecting some unconscious bias

One thing I have found to be standing out during a root cause investigation, was that the mindset of the person involved in the incident was lacking the attention needed by the task at hand. Although all the tools supplied, such as the 5 why's, Fishbone diagram; even a bowtie method of root cause investigations lacked the one fundamental aspect. Mindset. Often, with deeper root cause analysis, I found that the underlying cause was not related in any way to the individuals potential to carry out the task, but to an underlying personal problem, which momentarily removed the individual's mindset from the task at hand, resulting in an incident or accident.

To analyze an incident effectively, the following steps must be followed: Gather all relevant data. Identify immediate and underlying causes. Prioritize root causes. Use tools like the "5 Whys, ICAM, TAB ROOT,ANAYLYSIS ." Create a timeline of events. Consider contributing factors. Review existing procedures. Develop preventive actions based on findings. Share insights for organizational learning.

One thing I found very helpful are pictures of the scene from all angles. Different angles and perspectives can help identify underlying causes. This is also a great way to record what happened so others in your team can see what's happened and have their input.

All is good and well during the analysis process of an incident, measures should be put in place to eliminate any future occurrence of such an event. The real factor coming into play, is to alter the attitude towards the employees to prevent such reoccurrence. Proper training, time and leisure management, not only in the workplace, but in private sector as well, should be open to employees. With relation to the risk analysis program, properly trained people should be applied to carry out tasks. Often a sub trained, or unskilled person is tasked to do a certain job, this is a potential incident, because, not only the lack of skill, but the uncertainty of carrying out the task correctly can and will eventually end up as an incident.

Next time you review corrective actions or incident solutions, consider this: Are those solutions "System Fix" or "Person Fix"? Which of those fixes are predominant? For me, a successful incident investigation should answer the following question: "Would another person, giving the same context, make the same decision?" If the answer is "yes", "maybe", "probably" or anything of that sort, you need to focus your attention on the "System Fix"! Consider this the next time you see an incident investigation report or corrective actions.

To improve safety after an incident, we must take a holistic incident management approach. We must take into account every single factor that caused the incident in the first place and must investigate at the micro-level and put effective control programmes in place to stop the recurrence of the event. Communicating and Sharing safety information will help someone else avoid a serious incident and protect others from falling victim to an accident. Health and safety policy must be updated regularly, reviewed regularly and shared with a wider business audience.

To enhance safety post-incident, the following steps helps: Analyze the incident thoroughly. Identify root causes. Develop and implement corrective actions. Train employees. Continuously monitor safety measures. Foster a culture of safety awareness. Share lessons learned throughout the organization.

One of the first things I've realized in my career is the importance of open communication with employees and management. They often have firsthand insights that we might miss. By consistently discussing safety, we create a culture where everyone's on the same page. Data and trend analysis are also invaluable. By tracking and analyzing incidents, we can identify patterns and address potential risks before they escalate. Using JHA's and THA's has been a great tool for proactively assessing tasks for potential dangers. When incidents do occur, a thorough inciden investigation helps us understand what happened, and why it happened, so we can prevent similar occurrences in the future. It's all about continuous learning and improvement.

One thing I have found to have been helpfull is the application of re-training, or remedial action. Often with this approach, the real cause would produce itself, mostly, and I say this with dearness, it will be "persons fault". Every workplace should have a DOL safety program in place to prevent incidents. If standard SOP's are followed, incidents should not occur. All it needs is a positive mindset towards safety, proper monitoring and measuring, skills development and ongoing training and awareness to alter a mindset.

Antes de la planificación, priorizacion y ejecución de la mejora es necesario señalizar el incidente para que no se repita hasta que se elimine el problema.

While learning from incidents is crucial to organizations, we should ask ourselves how are we learning "when no incidents happen"? Incidents represent a small portion of things going wrong and causing damage. More and more organizations are moving towards "Learning from Normal Work". Safety is all about learning, not only from incidents but also proactively before things go wrong. As leaders, we need to familiarize ourselves with that approach and some of the available tools to learn from normal work (e.g., Learning Teams, Finding the Next Incident, WTTT, etc.). Don't just wait for an incident to learn!

Report writing Incident reports should demonstrate all facts regarding that incident. Report should include detailed explanation, visible and root causes and finally corrective actions. Report should be written in simple language to explain facts to all parties. This report should be written by investigation lead by support of investigation team. Blaming culture should be avoided in the report.