Incident Investigation | Safety | Bishop Engineering

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Overview

Capturing and analysing every unwanted event to find and fix underlying causes.

Reporting near-misses matters as much as injuries — they reveal hazards before harm.

Incident classification

Near miss — could have caused harm but did not.
First aid case — minor injury treated on site.
Medical treatment case — needs professional care.
Lost-time injury (LTI) — keeps the worker off work.
Fatality — reported and investigated at the highest level.

Step-by-step procedure

Make the scene safe and care for the injured.
Report immediately — including near-misses and first aid cases.
Preserve evidence — photos and equipment involved.
Classify and decide investigation level by severity.
Gather facts — interviews, documents and a timeline.
Analyse root cause with 5 Whys or fishbone (Ishikawa).
Define corrective and preventive actions with owners and due dates.
Verify close-out and share the lessons learned.

Root cause analysis methods

5 Whys — ask "why" until the system cause is reached.
Fishbone (Ishikawa) — group causes by people, equipment, method, material, environment.
Track every action in a register with owner and verification.

Metrics & reporting culture

Track lagging indicators — TRIR and LTIFR.
Apply a just, no-blame culture to encourage reporting.
High near-miss reporting signals a healthy culture.

Roles & responsibilities

Role	Responsibility
Worker	Reports every incident and near-miss; assists.
Supervisor	Secures scene, makes initial report, supports.
HSE / Investigation team	Leads investigation, finds root cause, tracks actions.

Common mistakes to avoid

Stopping at "human error" instead of the system cause.
Blaming the worker, which hides real hazards.
Closing the report without verifying the actions work.

Legal requirements (Thailand)

Occupational Safety, Health and Environment Act B.E. 2554 (2011) — the governing workplace-safety law in Thailand.
Serious accidents must be reported to the Department of Labour Protection and Welfare within the time set by law.
Workmen's Compensation Act B.E. 2537 (1994) for work-injury reporting and compensation.

Frequently asked questions

What is Incident Reporting & Investigation?

Incident reporting and investigation is the process of capturing every unwanted event — from a minor near-miss to a serious injury — and analysing it to understand why it happened. The goal is not to assign blame but to find the underlying causes and fix them before the event repeats with worse consequences.

Who is responsible?

Worker: Reports every incident and near-miss promptly and assists the investigation.; Supervisor: Secures the scene, makes the initial report and supports fact-gathering.; HSE / Investigation team: Leads the investigation, determines root cause and tracks corrective actions to close-out.

What are the most common mistakes to avoid?

Stopping at the immediate cause (human error) instead of finding the system root cause. Blaming the worker, which discourages reporting and hides the real hazards. Closing the report without verifying that corrective actions are actually effective.

References — Incident investigation good practice; Thai OSH Act B.E. 2554 (employer must report serious accidents to the Labour authority) and related regulations.

Incident Reporting & Investigation