Does your organisation struggle with consistently sorting, examining, and learning from serious incidents. Your organisation isn’t alone. Thankfully, there are solutions. But first, you need to ask some tough questions. Then, create a roadmap that everyone in the business can adhere to.

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What needs to change?

If you could wave a magic wand and solve all the challenges identified in your strategy sessions, what do you think would have to change?

• Safety teams and operational colleagues only deep-diving on high-severity actual and potential incidents?

• Investigations consistently thorough in exploring people, systems, and cultural factors?

• Leaders actively driving a learning culture and showing interest in whether actions lead to real change?

• Incident data being analysed for trends and causes of control breakdowns across time, different operations, and locations?

If the above points are all too familiar, we know your pain. Which is why we’re here to say, there are solutions.  

How to solve these dilemmas

1. Nurture a learning culture  

Encourage leaders to model learning behaviours based off of industry standards and by actively participate in discussions about safety improvements. If something is to succeed, it needs to be supported and followed from the top down.

2. Conduct thorough investigations

Make sure all your incident-related investigations explore not just what happened, but also why it happened by considering human, system, and cultural factors. Remember, when safety is at stake, leave no stone unturned – it could save lives.  

3. Engage employees  

Get your frontline workers involved in the investigation process and learn from their experiences and perspectives. This is particularly valuable if they were a first-hand witness to the event in question.

4. Analyse incident data

Regularly review incident data to identify trends and recurring issues. Use this information to inform your safety strategy and act accordingly. This could be a review of safety steps or training modules for equipment training.  

5. Implement changes based on your findings

When investigations lead to recommendations, make sure these changes are implemented effectively and monitored for impact. There’s absolutely no point addressing an issue at hand to only let it fall  to by the wayside.

6. Provide ongoing training

Offer training sessions focused on learning from incidents and improving safety practices throughout the organisation. Make sure you budget for training sessions or workshops and monitor attendance. If someone misses a session, bring this up with them and have them complete necessary modules or assessment.  

7. Encourage open communication

Create an environment where employees feel safe discussing safety concerns without fear of repercussions. Some individuals may find it difficult to express these concerns in a group format. So, have a platform or safe space for them to report these issues – even if it’s anonymous.  

8. Review safety strategies  

Continually assess the effectiveness of your safety strategies and make adjustments based on new insights or changing circumstances. We recommend you include an annual safety audit in your operations, and conduct quarterly checks on processes to review any process failures.

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How Incident Analytics can help

By focusing on learning from incidents rather than just reacting to them, organisations can create a more effective safety strategy that reduces risk and enhances workplace safety. If your safety strategy is stuck in a loop, then it’s time to break free and embrace a culture of learning.

Join our Incident Investigation Course to empower your team with fresh insights and practical skills that transform how you approach safety and change that truly protects your workforce.

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