b'Garys CornerACCIDENT INVESTIGATIONS PART ONEGary Auman, MRCA Legal CounselIinjuriesandillnessespromptlyandaccurately. am sure that as a member of this Association you do everything youA procedure is not reasonable if it would deter or can to keep your employees safe anddiscourage a reasonable employee from accurately avoid accidents. As we all know, asreporting a workplace injury or illness.You cannot hard as we try, accidents do occur.require immediate reporting.When they do occur, it is importantI believe that a good accident investigation, and to perform an accident investigation to determine thethe records of those accident investigations, must cause of the accident. There are several reasons tobe performed every time an accident occurs. This investigate an accident: to determine the cause of thewill also go far to establish that you are concerned accident, to prevent future repetitions, and to gatherabout the safety of your employees and that you have necessary information to protect you from possiblea strong safety culture. I recommend that a written liability. In most cases, the accident, and any relatedrecord be maintained of every accident investigation. injuries, will be minor; but an accident investigationNot only should the investigation documentation may identify a common action, a course of events, orshow that you investigated and identified the cause an error by an employee(s) that lead to the accident.of the accident, but also what corrective action should The first step in a good accident investigationbe, and has been, taken. Remember, anytime that procedure is to require that all accidents, whetheran employee is injured, you have an exposure to an employee injury, or property damage, be reportedliability, at least through workers compensation but tothesupervisorassoonaspossible.29CFRsometimes beyond that administrative remedy. These 1904.35(b)(1)(i)you must establish a reasonablemight include things that are OSHA-related, and/procedureforemployeestoreportworkrelatedor indemnification and hold-harmless agreements 24 www.mrca.orgMidwest Roofer'