Accident investigations key in safety policies

Every company should know the value of an up-to-date and comprehensive safety policy. The organization’s management is responsible for providing a safe workplace for employees to perform their jobs. Management should establish lines of communication to receive feedback, suggestions and assistance from employees where safety and health are concerned. As a result, management commits to providing all of the resources needed to promote and effectively implement this safety policy.

Conversely, employees are responsible for following safe work practices and company rules, and for preventing accidents and injuries.

One of the main responsibilities of employees is to perform their duties in a safe manner in order to prevent injury to themselves and others. Keeping these facts in mind, an integral part of every company’s safety policy should be an accident investigation kit. Both management and employees need to have effective communication as to the responsibilities of both parties when an accident occurs.

Management should never require an employee to perform work that the employee believes is unsafe, or that he or she thinks is likely to cause injury or a health risk to himself or others. Employees must know and follow their employers’ rules and established policies for health, safety and injury prevention at work. Additionally, employees need to learn the approved safety practices and procedures that apply to their specific jobs and to the work environment around them.

Keeping all of these factors in mind, an accident investigation kit can facilitate the determination of the base cause of the accident. Is the accident due to not following the company drug and alcohol policies, a safety equipment violation, unsafe work conditions or possible human error? All of these factors and more could be involved if an accident has occurred. Securing details surrounding the incident will assist all parties in preventing future occurrences and providing the kind of safe workplace every company should strive for.

There are five steps involved in having your accident investigation kit ready and for determining who is at fault and whether or not the claim is real or fraudulent:

1. Providing supervisor and eyewitness questionnaire forms to all levels of management, including supervisors and foremen.

2. Teaching employees to report all injuries immediately to their supervisor, no matter how inconsequential they may seem.

3. Instructing supervisors to immediately complete the supervisor accident report form and provide co-workers involved with eyewitness report forms. Accident site inspections also should be conducted, if applicable.

4. Reviewing the cause of the accident to determine if further loss control measures need to be taken to avoid future accidents.

5. Providing copies of all accident report forms to your insurance carrier, along with the first report of injury or illness.

Follow up to make sure you add any key components to your safety policy as a result of the investigation. In addition, effective communication with all employees regarding the findings of the investigation can bring added benefits. Accidents in the workplace can demoralize employees, increase expenses, lessen productivity, and more. Take a proactive approach to accident investigations to promote safety, improve relations with employees, and ensure that fraud is not a factor.

David Endacott is a commercial insurance agent at Ollis & Co. He can be reached at DavidEnd@ollisco.com or www.ollisco.com.