While attending a company’s incident investigation review, we were struck by the fact that even though the incident was serious and could have easily resulted in a fatality neither the plant manager nor department manager were in attendance. The investigation team was chaired by a front-line supervisor who seemed to struggle with emotions of the group and the consequences before him. The process in this example was lacking while there was so much opportunity for management to participate, to positively impact employees by attending and participating in the incident investigation process.
Benefits of Leadership Participation in Incident Investigation
- The attendance of senior leadership demonstrates to employees that leadership has a vested interest in their personal safety. If conveyed effectively, not utilizing the investigation merely as fault finding, the presence of senior leadership demonstrates that managers do care about employees, and they do want to utilize the investigation as a mutual commitment to prevent injuries. Of course, it is most meaningful when managers follow up, act, and ensure changes are implemented, as needed.
- Participation in the incident investigation process provides senior staff with first-hand information not only on the incident’s initial causes but also the circumstances that may have contributed to the unfortunate event. Could it be there was no “proven safe method for performing the task” or “the proven safe method was not followed” that contributed to an injury? Or inadequate equipment or an ineffective process? There are other forms of communication for senior staff to engage in the safety of employees but when a serious incident occurs, the incident investigation provides an interactive opportunity to learn more to prevent re-occurrence while engaging staff.
- The executive does not have to chair the investigation, and their mere presence provides support, structure and guidance that is often needed to have an effective incident investigation team. Incident investigation should be timely and efficient to obtain pertinent information while maintaining a cordial tone. Ineffective investigations can be a painful process for both the subject employee and the investigation team. In the situation described in the introductory paragraph, the supervisor acting as the chairperson needed support and guidance that was lacking, not to sway opinions but to have constructive feedback.
Don’t Miss An Opportunity to Communicate Safety as a Value
Mangers need to attend and participate in the incident investigation process to demonstrate a meaningful concern for employee safety, learn what contributed to the event, find out the circumstances and procedures that may have contributed to the occurrence, and finally, to assist in the efficiency and effectiveness of the incident investigation but not to control it. An incident investigation team analyzing a serious injury event without senior leadership misses an opportunity to communicate safety as a value and in fact sends a negative message about the value of worker safety to employees and the team.
How do you communicate safety as a value?