Analysis and investigation of work accidents: how to do it efficiently?

Work accident investigation is a process of analyzing and evaluating all aspects involved in an accident, in order to determine its cause and prevent the occurrence of other similar accidents. This investigation is carried out by a multidisciplinary team, which includes representatives from different areas of specialization such as engineering, occupational safety, occupational medicine, among others, and aims to discover what
happened, why it happened and what needs to be changed to prevent it from happening again.

But how to carry out an efficient work accident investigation? In this article you will discover how to carry out the process correctly. Click Here For Incident Investigation Course in UAE

The importance of investigating workplace accidents:


Between 2012 and 2024, Middle East recorded more than 6 million reports of work accidents and more than 22,900 deaths resulting from these accidents. With such significant numbers, it is easy to see how important implementing a culture of preventing incidents and accidents at work in companies is.

Work accidents generate physical and emotional suffering for workers and their families, increase company costs associated with accidents, paralyze operations and can even generate fines and other penalties for the organization, if the occurrence was due to lack of compliance with labor laws and safety standards.

And the analysis and investigation of work accidents contribute precisely to avoiding and/or mitigating these problems. By identifying the causes of accidents, it is also possible to identify the risks and dangers present in the work environment in order to propose measures to avoid them.

Work accident x Work incident x Abnormal circumstances:


In a work accident analysis and investigation, it is important not to confuse these three terms. Although they all represent adverse events, that is, unwanted work-related occurrences, they produce different effects. Therefore, they must be treated in different ways. Understand below.

  • Work incident: occurrence that does not cause damage to the health or physical integrity of the worker, but that could have done so. For example: a part falls from the bed of a truck close to a worker, but does not hit him because he manages to avoid it in time;
  • Abnormal (or unwanted) circumstances: conditions with potential risks of generating incidents or accidents at work, such as operating a defective machine or equipment;
  • Work accident: the occurrence that actually results in damage to the health and physical integrity of the worker. For example, a worker who falls from unstable scaffolding and breaks his leg.

How to analyze and investigate work accidents efficiently?


To carry out a work accident investigation correctly and efficiently, it is important to follow some basic steps, as listed below.

Gather information:


The first step in carrying out a good analysis and investigation of a work accident is to collect all possible information about the accident. This includes, for example, hearing witnesses, writing down site observations, taking photos, gathering reports and any other relevant documents.

Consider the possible contributions to the workplace accident:


After speaking to witnesses and collecting information about the accident, it is important to try to identify what may have contributed to what happened. To do this, it will be necessary to collect information about the company’s operational processes on the day. Was there any faulty machinery or equipment? Were the workers overworked?

Abnormal circumstances contribute significantly to the occurrence of incidents and accidents at work. In most cases, in fact, it is possible to say that if they did not exist, the accident would not have happened.

Issue the report:


The next step in the work accident investigation is the issuance of a detailed report, containing the conclusions of your analysis. The report must contain the events, causes and recommendations to prevent similar accidents in the future, as well as review and monitoring actions for the proposed measures. If the accident was fatal, required hospitalization, medical treatment or caused any environmental impact, the report must be reported to the competent authorities.

Implement preventive measures:


After the steps mentioned above, it is time to implement the measures recommended in the report. They will prevent similar accidents from happening and prevent others whose risks were identified in the analysis.

Monitor results:


Last but not least, you must closely monitor the changes implemented and analyze the results obtained. And whenever necessary, you should also review the prevention solutions proposed in the report, so that they can always be aligned with the organization’s reality.

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