Once the immediate needs of the affected employees, patients, or visitors are met, the process of investigating the event should start. OSHA recommends the following steps to be followed:
- Report as required- Notify the proper parties,
both within the organization and outside (eg, authorities).
- Involve workers in the incident investigation- The employees
who work most closely in the incident area may have special insight into the causes and solutions.
- Identify root causes- Conduct a root cause analysis of the incident. Don’t stop an investigation at “worker error” or
“unpredictable event.” Ask “why” the patient or client acted, “why” the worker responded in a certain way, etc.
- Collect and review other information- Review records related to training, maintenance, inspections, audits, and past incident reports that may be relevant to the investigation.
- Investigate near misses- Near misses are situations that could have resulted in death, injury, or illness. Such incidents should be promptly investigated as well.
