Why Investigating minor incidents can prevent serious collisions

At the Health and Safety Event 2024, Driving for Better Business staged a mock trial which outlined the case against a van driver and his employer for causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

It highlighted many of the organisational and driver errors which can contribute to collisions. However, good incident investigation methods can highlight risk factors and mitigations before a collision ever takes place.

Most company investigations are carried out by an unqualified and probably reluctant colleague, and they tend to focus primarily on whether the driver was to blame. Good investigations go further, looking not for blame, but for what could have been done differently by each individual in the chain to prevent the collision occurring.

A good investigation will examine all the elements of the operation which can contribute to near misses or collisions.