Accident investigations aim to determine the cause and contributing factors of an accident, often for legal purposes. Government agencies conduct investigations to prevent future accidents. Investigators with engineering backgrounds and experience reconstructing accidents write reports and testify in legal proceedings. Federal agencies like the NTSB and FAA investigate public transportation accidents and publish reports and summaries publicly. OSHA investigates workplace accidents, sets safety standards, and offers guidance for employers.
An accident investigation is an attempt to discover the cause of an accident and all the contributing factors. Sometimes the investigation is conducted to apportion legal guilt to a person for the purposes of a lawsuit. In some types of accidents, government agencies conduct investigations with the dual purpose of finding the cause of the accident and preventing future ones. Most countries have specific administrative agencies that carry out this type of investigation.
This type of investigation is often carried out in the event of serious civil and criminal road accidents. Accident investigations usually involve investigators with experience reconstructing accidents who have been hired by a party to a lawsuit. They often have engineering backgrounds and hands-on experience in the field. They write reports detailing the factors used to arrive at their conclusions and can testify about causation in legal proceedings. In cases involving criminal charges, law enforcement agencies sometimes use their own trained detectives.
In cases involving accidents in the area of public transportation, federal agencies such as the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) conduct an accident investigation. In accidents involving commercial airliners, where there is the possibility of multiple deaths and serious injuries, the FAA and the NTSB work together to determine the cause of the accident. Investigative teams composed of experts from different specialties examine all systems involved, including human performance and flight control assistance to determine the cause.
Both the FAA and the NTSB include their accident reports and summaries of their investigations on a publicly available Internet site. The data in these reports and summaries is analyzed for common patterns or occurrences. The agencies hold public hearings on the results of their investigations and ask for public input on preventive measures. In the UK, Air Accidents Investigations (AAI) perform similar functions.
The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) investigates workplace and workplace accidents. Look for safety issues in equipment, supplies, people, and the work environment to determine the cause of accidents. OSHA also sets safety standards for many occupations and issues regulations for working conditions. Its investigative reports contain conclusions about the cause of the accident and recommendations for preventing future events.
OSHA offers guidance for employers on how to conduct their own occupational hazard analysis. The agency also maintains a database of accident statistics that is publicly available. It conducts hearings on the conclusions of its accident reports and on any proposed regulations resulting from the reports.
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