Incident Analysis (Investigation)

The objective of an incident analysis is prevention. Finding the causes of the incident and taking steps to control or eliminate those causes, can prevent similar incidents from happening in the future. Incidents are rarely attributed to a single cause; work environment, job constraints, supervisory or worker experience can all play a part. These factors must be examined to determine what role each had in causing the incident.

Once the causes are determined, corrective actions must be developed and implemented to prevent a recurrence. The analysis team must always keep in mind that effective incident analysis means fact-finding, not fault-finding.

In order for an analysis to be a valuable tool, three things must take place:

• Good information must be gathered and analyzed,
• Corrective actions must be taken, and
• Those actions must be monitored for effectiveness.