Accident Investigation Planning – The Next Step

Accidents happen. Sooner or later an accident will happen at your Family Entertainment Center or Bowling Center. It may be a minor trip & fall or laceration. It may be a more serious accident that requires the visitor to be transported to the hospital. It may not involve a visitor or employee, such as a fire in the middle of the night. Whatever the accident, it will have to be investigated. Below is a simple outline for an FEC Accident Investigation Plan.

In the event of an accident:

1. The owner or a supervisor must be notified immediately. If you are the injured employee and can not, then a co-worker must do so.
2. The owner or supervisor will notify outside agencies or call 911. If there is no supervisor available then find a safety committee member and they will make the appropriate notifications.
3. The owner or supervisor and a designated safety committee member will conduct the investigation.
4. All accident investigators receive should receive a minimum of four hours of accident investigation training.
5. All accident investigation reports go to the owner with copies going to the supervisor and the safety committee.
6. All accident investigation will begin as soon as the injured employee has been taken care of and the supervisor has determined that the accident scene is safe to enter.
7. An accident investigation kit should be located in a convenient location.

Accident Investigation Procedures

Once the accident scene has been secured to preserve the evidence, all accident investigations will be conducted in accordance with the following procedures.

1. Gathering Information and Analyzing Facts: Pictures, video, and or sketches of the scene, that may have valuable information, will be conducted.
2. Analyzing Facts: All of the gathered information will be analyzed, symptoms identified, and root causes documented.
3. An Accident Investigation Report will be written: Each report will include the following:
   • Section 1: Background / Introduction
   • Section 2: Description of Accident
   • Section 3: Findings
   • Section 4: Recommendations
   • Section 5: Summary
4. Taking Corrective Action: The owner, supervisor, and/or safety committee will review each accident investigation and take appropriate corrective action to prevent a repeat of that accident.
5. Follow Up: The safety committee will conduct a follow up evaluation of the corrective action to ensure that the causes for the accident have been properly addressed.
6. Critical Review: Once each year, the safety committee will conduct a critical review of the entire accident investigation program and make recommendations for changes that will improve the effectiveness of these investigations.