Incident Investigations and Background Checks

An incident can be defined as an occurrence, condition, or situation arising in the course of work that resulted in or could have resulted in injuries, illnesses, damage to health, or fatalities. An accident, on the other hand, is an unplanned event that interrupts the completion of an activity, and that may (or may not) include injury or property damage. Some make a distinction between accident and incident. They use the term incident to refer to an unexpected event that did not cause injury or damage at that time but had the potential. ‘Near miss’ or ‘dangerous occurrence’ are also terms for an event that could have caused harm but did not.

When new employees are brought on, the client needs to conduct some reference checks to authenticate the information provided. Background investigations and reference checks are employers’ principal means of securing information about potential hires from sources other than the applicants themselves. A background investigation generally involves determining whether an applicant may be unqualified for a position due to a record of a criminal conviction, motor vehicle violations, poor credit history, or misrepresentation regarding education or work history. A reference check generally involves contacting applicants’ former employers, supervisors, co-workers and educators to verify previous employment and to obtain information about the individual’s knowledge, skills, abilities and character. There are many reasons employers conduct appropriate levels of screening for prospective employees through a background investigation, a reference check or both. Every time a business hires a new employee, it is an investment in time, resources, and money. In an ideal situation, our clients would want to have all the information we need to assure us that we have made the right decision.

When incidents are investigated, the emphasis should be concentrated on finding the root cause of the incident so that, measures are put in place to prevent the event from happening again. The purpose is to find facts that can lead to corrective actions, not to find fault. Always look for deeper causes. Do not simply record the steps of the event. Our programme, using cases studies from various areas add to the same understanding.