Investigating Health & Safety Incidents

All incidents that are work-related and/or occur on university controlled premises must be followed up with some degree of investigation. 

 In some cases it may be straightforward, for example:

• Confirming that first aid provisions were available & adequate at the time
• Confirming that the correct procedure was followed in response to the foreseeable incident (e.g. evacuation protocols; chemical spillage management protocols)
• Confirming that a repair works have been arranged to fix an isolated issue

In other cases the circumstances may be more complex and point towards underlying failures in health & safety management. In these situations, a deeper review is required.

The Investigation Process Flowchart (PDF , 52kb) illustrates the route of incident investigation, outlining:

• Sorting incidents into investigation categories
• Persons responsible for coordinating the investigation
• Timescales for completing steps throughout the process
• How investigation outcomes should be communicated within the organisation

Investigation category	Investigation coordinator
1	Health & Safety Business Partner
2-4	Departmental Safety Coordinator responsible for the workplace or premises in which the incident occurred

 

In most cases, the investigation coordinator will be competent to conduct the practical elements of the investigation (gathering & analysing evidence).

 

In some cases, an incident can involve more specialist work activities and be much more complex in nature. In these cases, it would be appropriate to enlist the help of colleagues who oversee these specialist areas, and have the relevant expertise, to ensure the practical elements of investigation are done properly.

 

In any case, it will be the investigation coordinator who collates & records the information, creates the corrective action plan and finalises the investigation. 

Start Point

An investigation should be started by the investigation coordinator as soon as possible once they have been formally notified of the SOLAR report. 

 

End Point

The target timescale for completion of an investigation is 30 working days after the date on which the SOLAR report was submitted.

Formal Investigation Report

A formal, written investigation report may be required, depending on the nature & severity of the health & safety incident.

The following guidelines should be applied:

Investigation category	Reporting requirements
1	A formal investigation report is mandatory in every case.
2	A formal investigation report will be required in most cases.
3-4	A formal investigation report will not be required in most cases.

Investigation coordinators should make a judgement call, using the guidance provided, on whether a formal investigation report should be used.

A copy of the investigation report template can be downloaded via the link at the bottom of this web page. 

 

Populating the SOLAR report case

When a formal investigation report has been used, the comments section of the SOLAR report case should simply be populated with the following:

• Reference name of the investigation report file

• Storage location of the investigation report file

When a formal investigation report is not required, the comments section of the SOLAR report case should always be populated with the following information:

• Any other useful factual information obtained about the event  e.g. immediate actions & responses that happened
• Any obvious issues which were identified
• Any follow up actions that have been arranged and completed

 

Closing out the SOLAR report case

Once the comments section has been populated, the user should always complete the following steps to finalise the SOLAR case:

• Add initials and date to the comments section, to sign off completion
• Changing the record status of the SOLAR case to 'investigation completed'

 

Naming of reports

Firstly, the investigation report must be given a unique file name in a consistent format that complies with data protection rules. The file name should simply be the SOLAR reference number and date of publication (e.g. ‘SOLAR 3274_1st Nov 2024’).

Record storage

The university central health & safety office will keep a record of every formal investigation report that is made in the central storage drive. The investigation coordinator should send a copy of the final version of the report in PDF format by email to shwo-enquiries@york.ac.uk

It is also the responsibility of the investigation coordinator to keep records of formal investigation reports and associated evidence in their department operations shared drive.

Electronic filing systems should be well-organised and documents readily accessible for review.

 

The university central health & safety office should be notified of any of the following circumstances following an incident:

• A work absence of between 3 and 7 days
• A work absence over 7 days
• A high chance of an insurance claim related to the incident

The notification should be made at the earliest opportunity by email to shwo-enquiries@york.ac.uk

 

Incidents involving student misconduct that are not work-related are outside the scope of SHWO and the University workplace health & safety incident reporting and investigation process. These incidents are a matter for Student Life & Wellbeing, who have defined investigation and disciplinary procedures. 

Sometimes incidents can happen on University premises which are not in connection with specific work activities. In these instances, it is important to identify if the main cause was due to the condition of the estate (buildings; facilities; grounds), in which case the incident would fall within the scope of workplace health & safety. The estates department would take the lead on investigating the incident, in accordance with the University health & safety incident investigation process. If the incident is not related to the condition of the estate, then it is unlikely to be a workplace health & safety matter and falls outside of the scope of SHWO.