THE FOLLOWING ACCIDENTS SHOULD ALWAYS BE INVESTIGATED:

—  fatalities, irrespective of cause;

—  those which are likely to give rise to, or have already given rise to, serious public concern, eg, where there are multiple casualties and there has been considerable publicity in the media;

—  very serious injuries or multiple casualties, eg explosions, cranes collapsing, major escapes of vapour; and

—  those covered by special national and locally agreed initiatives.

ACCIDENTS THAT SHOULD GENERALLY BE INVESTIGATED:

—  exceptionally serious injuries, irrespective of cause; and

—  those which have given rise to a complaint.

OTHER ACCIDENTS

  Principal Inspectors (PIs) have discretion to select other accidents for investigation such as those which appear to indicate a serious breach of the law, accidents to young persons or children, or those which recur at a particular premises or in a particular industry.

  In making a decision PIs should consider:

—  the severity or potential severity of the injury;

—  the gravity of any apparent breach of legislation;

—  the need for factual information to support an approach to management or workers in relation to a particular firm or industry;

—  the availability of Field Management Unit (FMU) inspectors and in particular the effect of the work involved on the preventive inspection programme; and

—  allocating sufficient accidents for investigation by Band 4 trainee inspectors to satisfy their training needs, and to qualified inspectors joining a new FMU who require training on a particular industry sector.