Even an organisation that has made progress with their risk assessment methodologies may fail to reap the significant benefits can can be gained by conducting proper incident investigations and utilising the wealth of information they can provide.

When an incident occurs, even if no harm has been caused (near-miss), it is important that an investigation takes place in order to reveal the causal factors that led up to it. Unfortunately, many organisations fail to do this, or if they do, they don't conduct the investigation properly and it becomes a waste of time and resources.

A properly conducted investigation will seek to establish not just the direct, immediate causes of the incident, but also the underlying and root causes. If you look back at previous incident investigations within your own organisation and discover conclusions such as 'operator error' have been recorded as causes, then the investigation was probably not conducted correctly.

In the aftermath of a health and safety related incident, feelings and emotions can often run high. People may well be upset and others may be fearful of what might happen next.