Catastrophic Crane Incident
INCIDENT SITE INVESTIGATION STRATEGY
Response to an incident
Investigations must be conducted without
undue delay from the time a notification of an
incident is received. An investigator should
respond immediately and reach the scene as
soon as possible. The investigation process will
become more difficult as a result of changes
or disturbances at the scene due to a delay in
initiating the investigation. Factors that may
affect the incident site include search and
rescue operations, weather, intentional removal
of evidence to cover up the chain of events,
disappearance of volatile chemicals or gases
and perhaps an unintended clean up might have
tampered with the evidence.
Incidents should immediately be reported to
the authorities to ensure that there is no violation
of any laws arising from a disturbance at the
scene. For example, in the event of an incident
involving a fatality or serious injury, it should be
immediately reported to the Fire and Rescue
Department for rescue purposes. The police
must also be informed to ensure that any criminal
activity directed at the victims can be investigated.
In addition, the department responsible for the
safety and health of workers must be informed.
It is the statutory duty of an employer at any
workplace, upon the occurrence of an incident
to notify the Department of Occupational Safety
and Health (DOSH) of an incident involving an
employee under the OSHA Act 1994. Section
32 of OSHA 1994 has outlined that any incident
occurring at work should be reported to the
nearest DOSH office. These requirements are
also set out in the Occupational Safety and Health
regulations, Notification of Incidents, Hazardous
Events, Occupational Poisoning and Occupational
Diseases 2004 (NADOPOD). Hence, it is important
for investigators to have a good understanding of
relevant legislation related to workplace incidents.
Pre-visit and planning of site Investigation
Except for a regulator or a law enforcement officer,
custody of the scene must be released by the
authorities or any related agency before anyone
may enter an incident site. Other exceptions
tolerated by law are those rescuing victims,
maintaining public access, or preventing further
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