Accident Investigations:
The need to investigate a hazardous occurrence remains a definite legal requirement in most jurisdictions in Canada. Many organizations fail to appreciate their legal obligations to investigate hazardous occurrences in an expeditious fashion and the related responsibility to inform the regulator and internal health and safety resources within a few hours of such an event. Despite the cost to an organization in terms of lost production, additional labour inputs and the like, the completion of a detailed investigation in the wake of a hazardous occurrence by a team of proficient investigators can bear a variety of significant organizational benefits. Timing: The investigation of hazardous occurrences can often be derailed by the actions of responsible managers and supervisors who more often than not remain squarely focused upon their production related responsibilities to the detriment of any subsequent hazardous occurrence investigation. Hence corporate health and safety policy must clearly emphasize the fact that responsible managers bear a primary responsibility to ensure that the need for an investigation is communicated and that the scene of the event remains secured and isolated from any potential interferences.
Seriousness: Unfortunately many organizations do not regard the investigation of incidents, those events that generally do not result in injury, property losses or environmental damage, as an operational priority. Incidents are generally considered to be of little importance and certainly not serious enough to warrant the expenditure of corporate resources to investigate.
| ![]() A 65 year old Ottawa area backhoe operator, Ulderico Iannucci, tried in vain to jump out the back window of his machine before it plunged off a 50-metre escarpment behind Parliament Hill in 2005. Iannucci had been compacting trash behind the Parliament Buildings on Friday, August 19, 2005 with the rear scoop of his backhoe when the machine suddenly engaged. Witnesses said the backhoe hurtled through a chain link construction fence toward a stone and wrought-iron retaining wall at the top of the steep escarpment above the Ottawa River. Investigators believe that the accident happened when the machine inadvertently slipped into gear and veered toward the cliff. ![]() A 31-year-old employee of Mancuso Chemicals Ltd., Charles Condez, was tragically killed while he and a colleague poured two 500-kilogram bags of formaldehyde powder into a mixture of phenol and water at about 11:20 on Friday, November 22nd, 2002. An unusual chemical reaction ensued at the company’s Progress Street location and Condez was splashed with the resultant toxic mixture which rapidly led to his death. For nearly 100 hours, the chemical worker's highly contaminated body came into contact with co-workers, firefighters, emergency paramedical personnel as well as hospital workers. ![]() On November 26, 2002 local firefighters supported by the Hamilton Regional Police and a private Hazardous Materials Emergency Services provider equipped with protective suits and self-contained breathing apparatus were called to the Greater Niagara General Hospital morgue to decontaminate a body that had become so toxic that doctors could not safely conduct an autopsy. Charles Condez was a trainee at the time of his death. |
Legal Requirements: Two basic legal requirements exist for employers with regard to workplace accidents. In the case of injury especially those that require medical intervention beyond first aid, employers must proactively report workplace accidents to their respective provincial or territorial worker's compensation authority within three days using a specially designed fax, email or telephone form. In the case that an accident meets specific criteria set buy the authority having jurisdiction, employers generally also face an additional reporting requirement.
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The Benefits of Accident Investigations - Hazardous Occurrence Investigations are much more than just a Legal Requirement!
Aside from the obvious legal implications involved with the investigation of a hazardous occurrence, one of the key benefits of such an investigation for an organization is the development of a clearer understanding of the effectiveness of preexisting safety controls.
Safety controls and procedures represent an essential aspect of corporate health and safety policy. They also represent a significant investment of time, money and other important corporate resources. Hence a professionally conducted hazardous occurrence investigation has the potential to provide a clear determination of all of the driving causes of an accident or incident including especially a micro level review of the sequence of events.
Such an investigation can also yield a detailed picture of some of the more unfortunate organizational dynamics that either directly or indirectly influenced the development of a hazardous occurrence. Thus an analysis of a workplace accident or other mishap conducted at the macro level can yield significant insights into a number of crucial internal organizational factors for instance the impact of a functional or dysfunctional corporate culture on the overall traction of corporate safety systems.

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