Investigating safety incidents is rarely easy and doing so remotely can be even harder. But in the new normal of today where people and organisations are physically distancing, so must investigators. So, what does an ICAM investigation look like in the time of COVID-19? I recently received a call from a client regarding a fatality that had occurred at one of their mine sites. The incident scene had been secured, family members, local authorities and the corporate office had b

For those of you who read my previous article you will be familiar with Zoey, our 5 year old daughter. It seems that she is becoming my inspiration and the common theme to all my discussions around ‘everything investigation’. So, here she is again demonstrating with a scenario which most of us can relate to, another important principle of ICAM and reinforcing that you can honestly ICAM anything… Dinner time is dreaded in our household. Zoey is easily distracted and we sp

Historically incident investigations have been seen as reactive in nature. We failed to prevent an adverse outcome and so we investigate to try to understand where things went wrong, what happened and more importantly why it happened so that we can try to prevent it from happening again. It is a reactive process that if conducted effectively should result in proactive improvements in an organisation’s incident prevention measures. Incident investigation should be seen as risk

So, the conversation normally starts like this: ‘So Geoff, what do you do with yourself?’ My normal response is that I work 80% of my time as an aviation consultant, about 15% of my time teaching investigation techniques and 5% of my time working as a contracted, independent investigator. Once we have got past the usual questions of ‘Do you watch Air Crash Investigations’ and ‘What happened to MH370?’ the conversation usually jumps to the contracted, independent investigator

So you’ve done the Incident Cause Analysis Method (ICAM) Training…. and from the feedback we receive, attendees say it was a great course and they learnt some valuable techniques for incident investigation. During the course, of course you listened intently to the Safety Wise Facilitator. During the Syndicated Exercise, all the theory fit together and you “got it”. You received the initial incident notification, you came up with a data collection plan (PEEPO), you then receiv

We assist organisations conduct investigations of accidents, incidents and near misses. Our investigations are outcome-focused to identify remedial actions that prevent recurrence, reduce risk and improve operational performance. We've spent nearly 15 years investigating some of the world’s most significant workplace incidents. As the founders of the ICAM methodology, we’re always fine-tuning our approach to ensure that our clients stay on the forefront of organisational im

Introduction Unlike the TV series 24, starring Kiefer Sutherland, the life of an investigator isn’t as glamorous or as action packed however can be just as satisfying and with far reaching and positive outcomes for everyone involved. The Safety Wise team of Investigators have provided investigation and training services across 43 countries in the last 10 years and investigated over 400 incidents including near misses, high potentials (HiPo’s) and incidents involving fatalitie

Introduction The Incident, Cause, Analysis Method (ICAM) Incident Investigation model is the most diverse model any safety specialist will ever use when undertaking an investigation in the workplace. In the past, incident investigators have tended to focus on intentional or unintentional acts of human error – those things that people did or didn’t do – that led to an incident or accident (the “person model”). While this approach provides a superficial explanation of the incid