Accident and Incident Investigation Techniques

The term incident is used in some Situations and Jurisdictions to cover both an "Accident" and "Incident". It is argued that the word "Accident" implies that the event was related to fate or chance. When the root cause is determined, it is usually found that many events were predictable and could have been prevented if the right actions were taken making the event not one of fate or chance (thus, the word incident is used). For simplicity, we will use the term accident to mean all of the above events. All accidents are incidents, but not all incidents are accidents. 

That's a very brief answer to the common query about the difference between the two terms. Accident investigation techniques are Lawrence Bamber's theme in our latest guide. The information that follows is intended to be a general guide for supervisors or joint occupational health and safety committee members. When accidents are investigated, the emphasis should be concentrated on finding the root cause of the accident rather than the investigation procedure itself so you can prevent it from happening again. The purpose is to find facts that can lead to actions, not to find fault. Always look for deeper causes. Do not simply record the steps of the event. The course covers loss causation and analysis and reporting and recording, but we'll concentrate here on incident investigation