Accident Prevention, Essay Example

It is essential to investigate accidents because it will allow for an overall improvement to the safety management system. When investigating accidents, common decisions that are made include deciding what should be secured at the scene of the accident and whether or not an accident report should be submitted to OSHA (Goetsch, 2011). Although health and safety investigators are aware of the steps that need to be taken when these accidents occur, mistakes unfortunately can occur during this process, so it is essential to determine which of these processes should not be overlooked. Firstly, when accident investigators secure the scene of the accident, they must do so in a way that protects people from encountering the hazard in addition to allowing those working to clear the hazard to have space. However, a major mistake is to allow employees clearing the hazard to remove important material evidence from the accident scene. In addition to the clearing of material evidence, it is important to get oral evidence immediately after the accident to ensure that accounts of what happened are the most accurate. An accident investigator’s inability to do these two things will result in discrepancies about what actually caused the accident.

A second common mistake that is involved when investigating accidents is failing to report the correct information to OSHA. While the OSHA report is only required for accidents that result in deaths and hospitalizations, it is necessary to ensure that the reports are always submitted in these cases and include all relevant data about the accident (United States Department of Labor, n.d.). If the accident investigator fails to do so correctly, OSHA has the right to investigate the institution in which the accident occurred and it could be given a penalty (OSHA Academy, 2013).

References

Goetsch, D.L. (2011). Occupational Safety and Health for Technologist, Engineers and Managers (7^thed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J: Prentice Hall.

OSHA Academy.(2013). Effective Accident Investigation. Retrieved from http://www.oshatrain.org/courses/studyguides/702studyguide.pdf

United States Department of Labor.(n.d.).Basic Programs for Federal Employees OSHA. Retrieved from https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=STANDARDS&p_id=11280