If your organization has experienced a
serious or fatal workplace accident you need to act now!
Alberta law requires employers to immediately report
all serious workplace accidents to Workplace Health & Safety
(WHS) @ by calling 1-866-415-8690.
Section 18(2) of the Alberta Occupational
Health & Safety Act, requires injuries and incidents to be
reported if they:
- result in a death;
- cause a worker
to be admitted to hospital for more than two days;
- involve an unplanned
or uncontrolled explosion, fire or flood that
- causes or has
the potential to cause a serious injury;
- involves the
collapse or upset of a crane, derrick or hoist; or
- involves the collapse
or failure of any component of a building or
structure necessary for the structural integrity of the building
or structure.
You are also required to complete an accident investigation report
in a format outlined by WHS as shown in their bulletin. Alberta
Serious Workplace Accident Reporting Bulletin and Accident Report
Format
Take immediate steps to preserve accident
scene evidence. This is important from an investigative
point of view and tampering or moving evidence at a serious accident
scene is an offense under the Act. You are permitted
to move evidence to rescue people or to make the area safe, beyond
that, hands off!
Consider some or all of these as means
of protecting evidence:
- Shut down work
processes.
- Remove nearby
workers.
- Keep people
away.
- Flag the area
with caution tape.
- Take photos
and sketch the scene if evidence will be degraded by weather
action.
- Cover the site
with tarps or plywood.
- Post guards
and record the names of all those entering.
In addition, you need to take steps to protect your organization
from the possibility of charges under the Occupational Health
& Safety Act and you should immediately contact
your legal counsel for advice.
Our investigators routinely conduct serious or fatal workplace
accidents investigations throughout Canada and the USA and are
prepared to assist you regardless of the time or accident location.
Our lead investigator Jeff
Short has a wealth of investigation
experience gained from over thirty years of combined police and
health and safety investigation duties. Contact
us for telephone advice at any time.
Serious workplace accident investigations can be stressful, disruptive,
and a challenge for any organization. Properly carried out, a
good accident investigation can dispel rumours, set the record
straight, and reinforce management's good intentions.
Why engage an external workplace
accident investigator?
In the case of a fatal or serious workplace accident:
- When engaged through your firm's legal counsel all
findings become privileged client/lawyer communications and
not subject to disclosure in court.
- An external accident investigation may offer a higher level
of credibility to the Courts should an employer be charged.
- It may be asking too much in terms of employee morale and
relations to have peers conduct any serious or fatal accident
investigation.
- Accident investigator expertise within the company may not
exist or be readily available.
In other less serious situations:
- External investigators have the potential to produce objective
findings, as they are not subject to internal influences.
- Demonstrates to employees, government and the public, management's
good intentions in identifying the true causes of the accident.
- Reduces demands on management and employees production time.
- Provides a cost effective service as it operates with a broad
experience base in gathering and analyzing accident information.
Attention TapRoot® Users
Jeff is a licensed TapRoot®
Team Leader and can support both your accident investigation process
and your team members using the TapRoot® Root Cause Analysis
Process.
Phone:
1(780) 432 4262
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