1. Purpose

To ensure that injuries, illnesses, and health and safety related incidents that occur at an ABC Company workplace are properly investigated and where necessary, reported to the required government agencies in accordance with the BC Workers Compensation Act (“Act”) and the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation (“Regulation”).

1. Policy

Although it strives to be proactive in eliminating hazards before they cause injury, illness, or damage to property, ABC Company recognizes the importance of investigating the causes of injuries, illnesses, and incidents that may occur despite our best efforts to prevent them. This Policy sets out the rules ABC Company uses to determine which of these to investigate internally and how it will conduct such investigations and where necessary, report such injuries, illnesses, and incidents to the Board.

Workers and other personnel are reminded that they are not only encouraged but required to immediately notify XXXX of injuries, illnesses, or incidents that they witness or are involved in under the Section 04 – Injury/Illness/Incident/Accident Notification Policy and that they will not suffer any punishment, retaliation, reprisal, or adverse treatment for doing so.

1. Immediate Incident Response

• 01 Helping Victims & Containment

In the event an incident occurs at an ABC Company workplace, the appropriate incident response personnel will report immediately to the incident scene and initiate measures necessary to:

• Help or rescue the injured;
• Stabilize the situation to prevent or minimize risk of further injuries, environmental damage, or property damage;
• Secure barricade or isolate the scene as appropriate; and
• Make a determination of whether to investigate the incident in accordance with Section 4 below.
• Incident Scene Not to Be Disturbed

No person will be allowed to disturb the scene of an incident except:

• Where otherwise directed by an officer of the Board or a peace officer; or
• To the extent necessary to:

• • Attend to persons injured or killed;
  • Prevent further injuries or death; or
  • Protect property endangered as a result of the incident.
  • Avoid the creation of an additional hazard.

1. Determining the Need for an Investigation

Personnel who respond to the scene of an incident will consider whether to initiate an investigation based upon both the legal requirements set out in Section 4.1. and overall health and safety considerations beyond what the law requires as stated in Section 4.2.

• 01 Incidents that Must Be Investigated

All incidents must be immediately investigated to determine the cause if it is one of the kinds of incidents requiring an immediate investigation by an employer under Section 173 of the Act, i.e., the incident:

• Is one that requires immediate notification of the Board under Section 172 of the Act;
• Resulted in an injury to a worker requiring medical treatment;
• Is a near miss, i.e., involved no or only minor injury not requiring medical treatment to a worker but had the potential to cause serious injury; or
• Is of a type the Regulation specifically requires an employer to investigate.

Exception: An incident will not be considered one requiring an immediate investigation in the case of a vehicle accident occurring on a public street.

• Other Incidents May Also Be Investigated

Response personnel may also immediately initiate an investigation of other incidents that do not require an investigation under Section 4.1. above to the extent such personnel judge that determining the cause and preventing a recurrence of the incident is important to the future health and safety of workers in the workplace.

1. Immediate Notification of Board

• As required by Section 172 of the Act, ABC Company will immediately notify the Board by the quickest practicable means of any incidents that:

• • Result in serious injury or death to a worker;
  • Involve a major structural failure or collapse of a building, bridge, tower, crane, hoist, temporary construction support system, or excavation;
  • Involve the major release of a hazardous substance; and
  • Is any other incident the Regulation says must be reported.

1. Incident Investigation Procedure

• Where initiated, an incident investigation must be carried out:

• • By persons knowledgeable about the type of work involved; and
  • If they are reasonably available, with the participation of:

• ABC Company or one of its representatives; and
• A worker member of the workplace Joint Health and Safety Committee (“Safety Committee”), the Health and Safety Representative (“Safety Representative”), or another representative of the workers at the workplace;

• The objective of an incident investigation is to determine:

• • The cause or causes of the incident;
  • Any unsafe acts, conditions, or procedures that contributed in any manner to the incident (“contributing factors”);
  • The actions necessary to correct the problem and prevent similar incidents from recurring; and
  • Whether the incident requires notification and reporting to the Board in accordance with Section 7 of this Policy;

• The incident investigation must begin as soon as possible after the scene has been secured and a determination is made that it is safe to proceed with the investigation;
• ABC Company will make a list of the names, addresses, and phone numbers of all the witnesses and other persons whose accounts may be important to the investigation and make every reasonable effort to ensure that such witnesses and other persons are available to the incident investigator(s) or an officer of the Board.

1. Incident Investigation Report

• 01 Preparation of Incident Investigation Report

After the incident investigation ends, the investigator(s) will create a written incident report. All Incident Investigation Reports will be retained and tracked for further analysis.

• Distribution of Incident Investigation Report A

XXXX will provide a copy of the Form 52E40 Incident Investigation Report to:

• The Safety Committee or Safety Representative; and
• The Board.

1. Follow-Up Action & Report

• 01 Corrective Action

ABC Company will within 48 hours take any corrective action required to prevent recurrence of similar incidents based on the findings of the incident investigation.

• Corrective Action Report
• ABC Company will prepare a written report of the corrective action taken and provide a copy of the report to:

• • The Safety Committee or Safety Representative; and
  • The Board;

• All corrective action reports will be retained and tracked for further analysis.
• Board Notification of Worker Injuries
• As required by Section 54 of the Act, ABC Company will notify the Board within 3 days of becoming aware of a work injury or occupational disease to a worker that is or alleged to be arising out of and in the course of employment, and in respect of which any of the following conditions is present or occurs later:

• • The worker loses consciousness after the injury or disease;
  • The worker is transported or directed by a first aid attendant or other representative of ABC Company to a hospital or other place of medical treatment, or recommended to go to such a place by such person;
  • The injury or disease is one that obviously requires medical treatment;
  • The worker states that he/she intends to seek medical treatment;
  • The worker has received medical treatment for the injury or disease;
  • The worker is unable or claims to be unable because of the injury or disease to return to his/her usual job function on any working day after the day of the injury;
  • The injury or disease resulted or is claimed to have resulted in the breakage of an artificial member, eyeglasses, dentures, or a hearing aid; or
  • The worker or the Board has requested that ABC Company report the injury or disease to the Board;

• Note: A minor injury or disease that does not require medical treatment or lost work time is not reportable to the Board unless one of the conditions listed in the bullets immediately above subsequently occurs;

• For purposes of applying the 3-day window for reporting an injury, the clock will start when:

• • A supervisor, first aid attendant, or other representative of ABC Company first becomes aware of any of the conditions listed in the bullets above that make an injury reportable, or
  • ABC Company receives notification of one of the above conditions by phone or mail at its home office or a local office;

• As required by Section 54(3), ABC Company will immediately report to the Board and its local representative the death of a worker that is or alleged to be one arising out of and in the course of employment.