CLINICAL LAB SCIENEC

CHAPTER 5: LABORATORY SAFETY 105
Timeframe for Investigation
Again, safety violations and incidents should be investigated as soon as possible
following an accident or a potential for an accident, where conditions exist
for a possible accident. The accident investigation should begin immediately on
learning that an accident has occurred. Just as in a crime scene, signs left by the
accident and physical evidence quickly begin to disappear, such as in a spill or a
biohazardous spill. Clean-up crews will move things and erase important details.
Other shifts come on the job and soon many of the clues are gone. Witnesses may
leave the scene. While impractical in some instances, photographs of the accident
can save time in gathering accurate information. The use of a digital camera to
take pertinent pictures of the accident scene would greatly bolster the evidence for
procedural, if not policy, changes. If considerable injury has occurred, interviews
including questioning of the victim(s) may be done later but certainly before the
memory has faded in those injured. The critical point is to start the investigation
while all the facts are present and fresh in the minds of those involved.
Information Collection Following an Accident
For obvious reasons, for a successful accident investigation it is necessary to
determine the cause of the accident. Investigators must be trained in the sort of
things to look for in the area and be able to recognize this evidence. Documentation
of each step of the accident or incident will enable the committee to more
easily change policies and procedures, if necessary.
Accidents may be broken down into two basic categories. Some causes are
readily observable, but some require intensive effort before the real cause of an
accident can be found. Patterns of similar accidents are often the easiest to analyze
and to arrive at the root cause or causes. When related to the initial cause(s),
the two categories are:
• Unsafe conditions (mechanical failure or physical causes)
• Unsafe acts (human failure)
In most cases, an accident investigator or Safety Committee will have three
sources of information. Equipment can be tested and visually checked for malfunctions
or improper use. Materials or supplies may be defective or used for a
purpose for which they were not intended. Although people, the third source of
information, will have psychological components of their estimates of the cause,
especially if serious injury has occurred, equipment and material and the conditions
of each of these will be fairly reliable if still present. They are not affected
by any psychological overlays or by memory or subjectivity. The key to inspecting
objects is to know what to look for. Which came first? In some cases a piece
of equipment causes damage to a building, which later causes another accident.
The equipment would be the cause and not the damage to the building, such as
a hole in the floor. Was the machinery in good condition with no defective parts
and was it being operated properly? A “yes” answer to any of these questions
helps to narrow the investigation.
People, on the other hand, can be more difficult to handle because the
method of approach to them will often determine the amount of information to
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