02. Investigating an Incident

Overview

Within the NIDA Safety Portal department managers are asked to review and investigate incidents that occur relating to their respective department. This is done to ensure that all incidents are appropriately investigated to understand their cause and identify opportunities to reduce the likelihood of the incident occurring again. Below is a short video demonstrating how to investigate an incident within the NIDA Safety Portal, as well as an explanation of each question in the form.

Step-By-Step Video

Summary of Questions

Section	Question	Explanation

Section	Question	Explanation
Notifiable Event	Is this a notifiable event?	A notifiable event is any incident of a particular severity that is required to be notified to the respective state regulatory body. In NSW, it is SafeWork NSW. Serious injury, illness, dangerous incident or death must be notified. If you are unsure about whether the incident is notifiable, select UNSURE and answer the questions that appear. If the incident is notifiable, contact the WHS Coordinator or HR immediately.
Investigation Details	What is to be investigated?	This allows you to build the framework for your investigation. Here is the place to write the questions to be answered that will assist you in establishing the cause of the event. You can always add more to this section as questions arise.
	Did this accident generate an injury?	Injury category
	Date of investigation	Most of the time you wil be able to use the NOW button. However you can choose a date if you have started earlier.
	Agency of event	What was the cause of the event?
	Mechanism of event	How did the injury/event happen?
	Supporting images (if applicable)	You can upload photos if they are saved to your device
	Was this person trained in the task?	This may not always be applicable. If the injury has resulted from a task that the person was performing then whether or not they were trained may be a contributing factor.
	How long was the person working for in this shift before the event happened?	How long was the person working or studying that day before the event happened
	Period of employment/study of person involved:	This may not always be applicable. If the injury has resulted from a task that the person was performing then the amount of prior training may be relevant
	Lost time (in hours):	This relates to the lost time as a result of the incident. For example, it may be the time that an injured person is unable to work/study after the incident. If there is no lost time enter 0. If you are unsure, you can save the form and enter the information later or use the comment bubble to @someone in People & Culture to provide the information.
	Did this injury result in an insurance claim?	If you are unsure, you can save the form and enter the information later or use the comment bubble to @someone in People & Culture or WHS to add the information to the form.
Cause Analysis	Absent/failed defences factors	What was missing or not in place that contributed to the event
	Individual/team factors	What were the human factors that contributed to the event?
	Task/environmental factors	What circumstances contributed to the event?
	Organizational factors	Where there procedural factors that contributed to the event?
Investigation Outcome	Investigation outcome statement	This is a summary of the investigation findings. For example, were tools being used incorrectly or without proper supervision. Was the venue inadequate for the activity?
Resulting Actions	Corrective Actions (if required)	If you determine there are things that need to be done to ensure the incident / event does not happen again, you can Create a New Action, Assign the action to a person to complete and set a deadline the action needs to be completed by. You can also set a reminder.