Incident investigation is a structured human process for examining workplace incidents to determine root causes and implement corrective actions to prevent recurrence. It operates through systematic evidence collection (interviews, documentation review, physical inspection), causal analysis using formal methods (5-whys, fault-tree analysis, fishbone diagrams), and documented findings that feed into organizational learning. Parameters: (1) triggered by a reportable event (injury, near-miss, property damage, environmental release), (2) requires trained investigators, (3) produces a written report with findings and recommendations, (4) feeds corrective actions back into the safety management system. [formal: investigatio | substrate: behavior | horizon: a life | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.01]
Accepted ontology entry
incident-investigation
Incident investigation is a structured human process for examining workplace incidents to determine root causes and implement corrective actions to prevent recurrence. It operates through systematic evidence collection (interviews, documen…
Definition
Why it is in scope
A structured human process for examining workplace incidents to determine root causes and prevent recurrence. It combines systematic evidence collection, causal analysis methods (5-whys, fault-tree), and documented findings into corrective actions. Persisted through formal report writing and organizational learning systems.
Names and aliases
- incident-investigationen · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
- cms9293jz002i7skq3m4d9hr1SERVES →
Incident investigation is built for the sake of safety-management: its designed purpose is to feed root-cause findings and corrective actions back into the safety management system, closing the feedback loop that allows safety management to learn and adapt. The servant (investigation) points at the master (management).
- cmru73a3j0073r671nhkzxpfxINSTANCE_OF →
Pre-test: incident-investigation is a specific kind of procedure — a structured process for examining incidents after they occur to determine causes and prevent recurrence. A competent speaker would say 'incident investigation is a procedure.' Nearest kind is procedure (not risk-assessment, which is the analytical activity, not the procedural framework).
Relations to this entry
No accepted relations in this direction.
Record identity
- Created
- Jul 31, 2026, 7:58 PM UTC
- Content hash
- 641bd4b2b49cc704d5730cda108d3025382ad96830dd5477c3e9738aa76e9e06