No amount of risk management will ever result in a 100 percent incident-free workplace. It’s simply impossible, as there are too many variables to account for. The best you can hope for is a workplace with as few incidents as possible.
One of the most efficient tools for understanding what might have caused a workplace incident, the investigation report, is crucial for developing your risk management strategies further. If you’re looking for a good investigation report sample for your own company’s needs, the following can be used to model your own.
What Is an Investigation Report?
An investigation report, sometimes called an incident investigation report, is a document that details the events surrounding an incident, the findings of the investigation, and any recommendations for corrective action. It is an important tool for companies to use to learn from their mistakes and prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.
There are many different elements that can go into an incident investigation report. The elements included will vary depending on the nature of the incident and the company’s policies and procedures. However, there are some key elements that are common to most incident investigation reports.
The Executive Summary
The executive summary is a brief overview of the incident investigation report. It should include the following information:
- The date, time, and location of the incident
- The nature of the incident
- The injuries or damage that resulted from the incident
- The findings of the investigation
- Any recommendations for corrective action
The Details of the Incident
The incident details section should provide a detailed account of the incident. This section should include the following information:
- The events leading up to the incident
- The sequence of events during the incident
- The injuries or damage that resulted from the incident
- Any witnesses to the incident
- Any physical evidence that was collected
The Findings of the Investigation
The investigation findings section should summarize the findings of the investigation. This section should include the following information:
- The root cause of the incident
- Any contributing factors to the incident
- Any lessons learned from the incident
Recommendations
The recommendations section should provide recommendations for corrective action to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future. These recommendations should be based on the findings of the investigation and should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time bound.
Conclusion
The conclusion should summarize the key findings of the report and reiterate the recommendations for corrective action.
More Information on Investigation Reports
In addition to the key elements listed above, there are a few additional tips for writing a good incident investigation report. The first is to be as thorough as possible. An investigation report should be comprehensive and should include all the relevant information. Accuracy is also essential. The report should be factually accurate and should not contain any errors.
Other important factors of incident reporting include objectivity. The report should be objective and should not be biased in favor of any particular party. The report should also be completed in a timely fashion, preferably as soon as possible after the incident. Finally, confidentiality should be maintained when it comes to accessing the incident report. It should not be shared with unauthorized individuals. These guidelines will help you create an incident report approach for your company that will be actionable and informative.
