1. Lack of a Structured Incident Response Plan

One of the biggest mistakes you can make occurs before your incident management process has even started. Without a clearly structured incident management process in place, you’ll be forced to rush a response without understanding who is responsible for what or how to go about escalating the issue.

On the contrary, a well-designed plan allows all team members to understand their roles and spring into action the second they catch news of the incident. Your response plan needs to be comprehensive, outlining the steps each employee should take during and after the incident. It should clearly outline the duties for each employee and include guidelines for escalation. 

Additionally, make sure each document within the incident management system serves a unique purpose to avoid overlap or redundancy. A clear hierarchy for documentation will help ensure that team members have quick access to the right information at the right time.

Here are some strategies you can use to avoid this pitfall:

• Create an incident response plan that defines roles and escalation procedures with clear, easy-to-follow steps.
• Keep your plan updated according to organizational changes.
• Train your employees to make sure they understand the plan and what’s expected of them in an emergency.

2. Overlooking Key Details During Incident Investigation

When investigating an incident, it’s easy to miss key details if you’re not following a structured process. If you miss a critical witness interview or don’t document environmental conditions, you may find yourself with an incomplete investigation. This makes it difficult to identify the root cause, and understanding the root cause is key to preventing similar incidents from occurring in the future. 

Be sure to investigate the incident from all angles. Interview all injured parties, witnesses, and anyone else who may have relevant information. Additionally, gather data on environmental conditions, the state of equipment, and anything else that could provide context. Use checklists or structured forms so you can be confident you’re collecting all the necessary information.

Here are some strategies you can use to avoid this pitfall:

• Let structured questionnaires guide your investigations so no important details are overlooked.
• Interview all relevant personnel, including witnesses, the injured person, and anyone who’s perspective could round out your understanding of the incident.
• Record environmental factors and equipment conditions to catch all possible causes.

3. Rushing to Conclusions Without Sufficient Data

Hasty conclusions are another common mistake made during the incident management process. Jumping to conclusions before gathering all the facts can lead to incorrect assumptions about the incident’s root cause, preventing you from identifying the deeper issues that need addressing.

One way to avoid this is by keeping an open mind during the investigation process. Don’t let preconceived notions or pressure to resolve the incident quickly influence your judgment. Taking the time to gather all relevant information ensures that you’re addressing the actual root cause, not just the immediate symptoms.

Here are some strategies you can use to avoid this pitfall:

• Gather all relevant data before drawing any conclusions.
• Train investigators to remain neutral and avoid bias.
• Dig deep into the facts to identify underlying issues that may not be immediately apparent.

4. Failing to Share Incident Findings with the Team

Even when the investigation is over and done with, you’re still not safe from this pitfall. If you don’t communicate the results of the investigation with the entire organization, you lose the opportunity to educate all your employees on how to improve safety in the future.

Share incident reports, outcomes, and corrective actions with your team to promote transparency and build trust. The more you engage your employees in discussions about safety, the stronger your safety culture. Engaging workers in discussions about safety can foster a stronger safety culture, where everyone feels responsible for maintaining a safe workplace.

Here are some strategies you can use to avoid this pitfall:

• Regularly share incident findings with all relevant teams.
• Conduct post-incident debriefs to discuss the findings and ensure corrective actions are understood.
• Encourage open safety discussions to build a culture of continuous improvement and shared responsibility.

5. Ignoring Near Misses

While major incidents do deserve the most attention, overlooking near misses can be detrimental to your incident management process. Analyzing near misses is a smart way to highlight potential hazards and weak points in your safety protocols. Ignore them, and you’ll be missing an opportunity to prevent future incidents that could result in actual harm.

A near miss often reveals a trend or safety gap that could go unnoticed. Treating near misses with the same seriousness as actual incidents allows you to spot and mitigate potential hazards before they escalate. 

Here are some strategies you can use to avoid this pitfall:

• Implement a process to document and investigate near misses, just as you would for actual incidents.
• Encourage employees to report near misses and emphasize the importance of these reports to improving workplace safety.
• Use insights from near-miss investigations to strengthen safety protocols and prevent accidents.

6. Delays in Responding Due to Access Issues or Escalation Bottlenecks

A speedy response is essential when it comes to workplace incidents. The faster you act, the better equipped you are to minimize harm, prevent escalation, and hasten the recovery. Despite this, delays often occur due to restricted access to critical resources or overly complex escalation procedures.These delays can magnify the severity of the incident and prolong the recovery time.

To avoid bottlenecks and keep your process running smoothly, simplify your escalation procedures and improve access controls. You can even automate workflows to guarantee responders have access to the information and resources they need without the need for approval. 

Automating workflows can also speed up response times by ensuring that responders have access to the information and resources they need without waiting for unnecessary approvals. 

Here are some strategies you can use to avoid this pitfall:

• Simplify escalation procedures to reduce response times.
• Implement automated workflows to ensure critical responders can act without unnecessary delays.
• Review access controls to ensure responders have the necessary permissions to act quickly during an incident.



7. Allowing the Incident Management Plan to Become Outdated

An incident management plan should evolve as you do. Outdated plans can lead to gaps in your response process. Organizational changes, new technologies, and evolving risks can all impact the relevance of your plan.

Mark your calendar to review your incident management process at least once a year, as well as whenever your business undergoes significant changes. That way, your team will always be prepared to respond to new risks as they arise. 

Here are some strategies you can use to avoid this pitfall:

• Schedule regular reviews of your incident management plan, ideally once a year or after significant changes.
• Conduct tabletop exercises and simulations to test the effectiveness of your plan and identify areas for improvement.
• Review the plan with multiple departments to make sure it’s comprehensive and applicable across the organization.

How to Improve Your Incident Management Process

In addition to addressing these common pitfalls, here are a few more strategies that will help you maintain a strong incident management process:

• Utilize technology: Tools like Forms on Fire can help streamline incident reporting and management. By automating key steps and uniting your forms and data in one app, you can ensure that critical data is captured and processed in real-time, improving your ability to respond to incidents rapidly.
• Promote a safety-first culture: Encourage open discussions about safety and involve employees in safety protocols. This helps build a culture where everyone shares the responsibility of preventing incidents.
• Provide ongoing training: Frequent training helps all employees understand their role in the incident management process so they can respond quickly and accurately when something goes wrong.

Takeaways

There’s no way around it– workplace incidents are going to happen. But having a strong, well-structured incident management process in place can make all the difference. Avoid the common incident management mistakes above, and you’ll be on your way to creating a safer, more transparent work environment your employees can trust. 

Interested in learning more about how you can streamline your incident management process with Forms on Fire? Book a demo or get your free trial today.