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Incident Investigation Report Request

MODEL INCIDENT INVESTIGATION REPORT REQUEST

Scenario: One of your workers drives a forklift into a racking system. The racks collapse. A worker is killed. Other racks suffer damage. OHS officials investigate. They order you to hire an engineer to determine if existing racks can support the loads they’re holding. How you order the report is of critical importance. Your best move is to hire a lawyer and have that person order the report for you. But if you order it yourself, here’s how to do it—and how not to do it.

 

WRONG WAY TO ORDER REPORT

Dear XYZ Engineering Consultants:

This letter is to confirm that ABC Company has engaged you to inspect the racking system of its manufacturing facility in Lightning Bay to determine the safety of the racking systems and whether they pose any danger to workers or others present in the workplace. This report has been ordered in connection with a recent accident at the Lightning Bay plant involving the collapses of a storage racking system.

Pat Smith,
OHS Coordinator
ABC Company

 

RIGHT WAY TO ORDER REPORT

Dear XYZ Engineering Consultants:

This letter is to confirm that ABC Company has engaged you to inspect the racking system of its manufacturing facility in Lightning Bay. This report is being prepared in contemplation of litigation and the contents of the report will therefore be privileged.
You are instructed to confine the results of your investigation to the following questions:

  • Is the current racking system in use at the Lightning Bay facility capable of supporting the weight of the containers that are being stored on those racks’
  • Is there a danger of collapse such as to threaten the safety of workers and others present in the facility’

 

Please do not conduct any assessments or offer any recommendations that are not directly relevant to these questions.

For purposes of your report, please note that the racking system is being used to hold containers capable of holding 100 pounds of materials. However, we expect your report to be based not on the capacity of the containers but on the fact that ABC Company keeps those containers half-full, or at 50 pounds

In considering the current viability of the Lightning Bay plant racking system, also keep in mind that ABC Company has adopted the following safety precautions:

List safety initiatives and measures taken affecting the risk of collapse and the vulnerability of workers in case such collapse were to occur

Pat Smith
OHS Coordinator
ABC Company