The materials in this section refer to both accidents and incidents - not only to the unexpected events that result in damage and/or injury, but also to the unexpected events that could have resulted in damage or injury if circumstances had been slightly different (in other words, "near misses" or "close calls").

In an accident/incident investigation, it's not really the injury or the damage that you are investigating, as serious as that might be. What you really are doing is looking for the underlying causes that allowed the accident/incident to happen. The injury or damage is the symptom, not the problem. And it is the problem that needs to be investigated.

Obviously, more serious accidents/incidents call for more serious investigation. You will want to spend more time and energy investigating those situations that have the highest potential for injury or property damage if they were to happen again.

However, do not minimize the importance of accidents/incidents that seem to be less serious, especially if they happen more than once. A minor accident/incident signals a safety program as much as a serious accident/incident does. If you don't look beyond the accident/incident to see why it happened, you can be sure the problems leading up to it will not disappear. It's just a matter of time until a tragedy occurs.