If traditional accident causation theory was truly sufficient for preventing incidents, wouldn’t we have learnt the lessons by now?

When we look at incident investigation reports, we see the same lessons being learnt time and time again. Those who investigate incidents will no doubt be familiar with the drawbacks associated with traditional investigation techniques.

With the benefit of hindsight, we can see the trajectory of the incident all too clearly. But how obvious were the lessons along the way in real time? With such an approach to incident investigation, there is always an element of revisionism at play.

It’s time to revisit incident investigation methods and update them to reflect the type of co-operative and positive safety culture to which organisations globally now aspire. Through a greater emphasis on near miss analysis, the Positive Investigation Methodology (PIM) does just that. In our latest infographic, we present key aspects of the PIM in pictorial format.

For further information, please contact Michael Tooma, head of our Occupational Health, Safety and Security practice in the Asia-Pacific and head of our Government practice in Australia.