A serious incident rarely comes out of nowhere. In most cases, there were warning signs. A near miss that didn’t get investigated. A shortcut everyone knew about. A supervisor who assumed the procedure was being followed. A corrective action that was assigned but never verified. By the time someone gets hurt, the issue is no longer just what happened in the moment. The real question is whether the employer should have seen the risk earlier and taken reasonable steps to control it.

That’s why incident investigations need to go beyond worker error. If the investigation stops at “employee failed to follow procedure,” it may miss the system failures that matter most. Was the procedure realistic? Was the worker trained and competent? Was supervision adequate? Were controls inspected? Did production pressure, fatigue, heat, equipment condition, or informal work practices contribute? Those questions are central to due diligence.

In this OHS Insider webinar, we’ll walk through a practical investigation framework safety professionals can use after incidents and near misses. We’ll look at how to gather evidence, interview workers and supervisors, identify root causes, avoid blame-based conclusions, assign corrective actions, and document follow-up. The goal is to help employers build investigation files that don’t just explain what happened, but show what the organization did to prevent it from happening again.