top of page

Accident Investigations

Having an accident is one thing. Having a repeat is unacceptable. Find the root causes and fix them ...

Having an accident is unfortunate, having a repeat means cognitive dissonance of control.

NOTE : Due to legal privilege, we cannot disclose the names of the organisations that utilise our expertise on this page. Should you be interested in this service, we will gladly put you in contact with our clients for reference and detail. 
 
Why we are able to find out what really happened ...

 

The main reason The Compliance Group is able to find the root cause and failures in accident investigation, is because we are unbiased as a result of being outside the environment where the accident occurred. We are not part of the organisation and have no loyalties, relationships, politics, schedules, role profiles, legal appointments or agreements for production and management for your business. In short, we have nothing to lose by investigating the accident, and finding or highlighting failures.

​

The above is not nurturing for a ontological, sustainable business relationship, but unfortunately, this approach is required in accident investigation. There are two reasons organisations have repeat accidents:

​

  1. The root cause was not indentified correctly.

  2. Actions to prevent a repeat was not implemented sucessfully

​

The Compliance Group is there to assist you with the first, and provide guidance on the second.

​

We are the investigator of choice and have been employed for fatal investigations by some of the worlds largest mining houses, integrating seemlessly with their legal team.

The Compliance Group (Pty) Ltd and specifically Owen Mc Cree, has been recommended for this service by Hogan Lovells. 
We have investigated several accidents at large international organisations, including fatal accidents. Our reports can be used in legislative proceedings and we are available to support our findings accordingly.

Applied Techniques

In order to provide with with the best and most accurate, value adding analysis and results, The Compliance Group utilises a combination of approaches and techniques to detemine the root cause. We map out the sequence of events and structure all evidence around teh timeline. What makes our approach unique, is the IPO (Input, Process, Output) process we follow, which makes sure we look at events and processes long before the incident and do not start from the time of the incident.
​
We continue to add value during the investigation by applying an ISO 19011 approach while we investigate, detmining where th execution or monitoring of your OHSAS 18001 or ISO 45001 management system failed.
Our Techniques Include
​
  • ICAM
  • RCAT
  • SCAT
  • Bowtie
  • WHY
  • Reconstruction
Covering Areas
​
  • People Evidence
  • Equipment Evidence
  • Environmental Evidence
  • Process Governance Evidence
  • Organisational Evidence
Analysis of Proactive CRA
​
  • Statistics
  • Action Trackers
  • Reports
  • Trends
  • SBO, PTO, Near Miss
  • Pre-use
  • Etc.
Health and Safety Consultants
In line with the Health & Safety Executive (HSE), we also drive the following approach

Legal reasons for investigating

 

  • To ensure you are operating your organisation within the law.

  • The Management System Standards such as OHSAS 18001 and ISO 45001 for Health and Safety, as well as legilsation such as the Occupational Health & Safety Act, Mine Health & Safety Act requires employers to plan, organise, control, monitor and review their health and safety arrangements. Health and safety investigations form an essential part of this process.

  • Legal proceedings. The fear of litigation may make you think it is better not to investigate, but you can’t make things better if you don’t know what went wrong! The fact that you thoroughly investigated an accident and took remedial action to prevent repeats would demonstrate to a court that your company has a positive attitude towards health and safety and has honest intent. Your investigation findings will also provide essential information for your insurers in the event of a claim.


Information and insights gained from an investigation


An understanding of how and why things went wrong.
An understanding of the ways people can be exposed to substances or conditions that may affect their health.
A true snapshot of what really happens and how work is really done. (Workers may find short cuts to make their work easier or quicker and may ignore rules. You need to be aware of this.)
Identifying deficiencies in your risk control management, which will enable you to improve your management of risk in the future and to learn lessons which will be applicable to other parts of your organisation.


Benefits arising from an investigation

 

  • The prevention of further similar adverse events. If there is a serious accident, the regulatory authorities will take a firm line if you have ignored previous warnings.

  • The prevention of business losses due to disruption, stoppage, lost orders and the costs of criminal and civil legal actions

  • An improvement in employee morale and attitude towards health and safety. Employees will be more cooperative in implementing new safety precautions if they were involved in the decision and they can see that problems are dealt with

 

bottom of page