When something goes wrong, find out why.
Good incident investigation is about more than finding someone to blame.
Winsland helps businesses investigate incidents properly, identify what really went wrong and put corrective actions in place to prevent it happening again.
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An incident is a warning that something may need attention.
An incident investigation should do more than establish what happened. It should help you understand why it happened and whether there are weaknesses in the systems, controls or behaviours that allowed it to occur.
The objective is learning and improvement — not assigning blame.
You don’t need an H&S consultant for every incident.
Most ordinary workplace incidents can be investigated by the business itself, provided people have a simple process and the right information.
The Winsland Health & Safety App provides tools for recording incidents, investigating what happened and tracking corrective actions through to completion.
See the H&S AppSome incidents deserve a deeper investigation.
Serious events, significant injuries and incidents that expose possible weaknesses in the management system may require an independent investigation by someone with the appropriate experience.
Serious incidents
Events involving serious harm, significant injury or potentially serious consequences.
Lost-time injuries
Incidents resulting in significant absence or indicating that existing controls may not be adequate.
System failures
Events suggesting that policies, procedures, supervision or critical controls have failed.
Complex events
Incidents involving multiple causes, contractors, different organisations or difficult circumstances.
Independent assurance
Where management needs an objective investigation that is independent of the people directly involved.
Regulatory scrutiny
Where the incident may attract attention from WorkSafe or other regulatory authorities.
Find out what really happened.
Establish the facts
We gather information, examine evidence and establish what happened without jumping to conclusions.
Understand the causes
We look beyond the immediate event to identify contributing and underlying causes.
Identify system weaknesses
We consider whether systems, controls, training, supervision or other factors contributed to the incident.
Recommend action
Findings are translated into practical corrective actions aimed at preventing recurrence.
Don’t stop at the obvious cause.
An operator error, a damaged component or a missed procedure may explain what happened — but it may not explain why it happened.
Effective investigation looks further. We consider the conditions and decisions that allowed the immediate cause to occur and whether the organisation’s systems and controls were adequate.
ICAM
Where appropriate, Winsland can use structured incident investigation and root-cause analysis techniques such as ICAM to identify contributing factors and underlying causes.
The focus is on learning and improvement rather than simply identifying an individual error.
Learning from a near miss
A near miss can provide valuable information before someone is seriously injured. Investigating it properly can reveal weaknesses that may otherwise remain hidden.
Winsland has used near-miss investigations to identify what happened, understand the contributing factors and determine what changes were needed to prevent recurrence.
The lesson is simple: you don’t need an injury before there is something worth investigating.
What you do afterwards matters.
An investigation that produces a report but no meaningful change hasn’t achieved much.
Findings should lead to corrective actions that address the causes identified, with responsibilities and completion tracked through to close-out.
Manage Actions in the H&S AppPractical investigation with a focus on what matters.
Independent
An objective investigation when an internal investigation may not provide sufficient independence.
Experienced
Broad Health & Safety experience across construction, manufacturing, energy and other industries.
Evidence based
Findings are based on evidence, interviews and examination of the circumstances surrounding the event.
Practical
Recommendations focus on meaningful improvements rather than generating unnecessary paperwork.
Need help investigating an incident?
If the event is serious, complex or you need an independent view, talk to Winsland.
Talk to WinslandFrequently asked questions
Does every incident need a formal investigation?
No. The level of investigation should be proportionate to the circumstances and potential consequences. Simple incidents can often be investigated internally using a straightforward process.
When should we use an independent investigator?
Serious incidents, significant injuries, complex events and situations involving possible system failures may warrant an independent investigation.
Can we investigate incidents ourselves?
Yes. Most businesses should be capable of investigating ordinary incidents themselves. The Winsland Health & Safety App provides tools to record incidents, investigate them and track corrective actions.
What is ICAM?
ICAM is a structured approach to incident investigation that helps identify contributing factors and underlying causes rather than stopping at the immediate cause.
Do you investigate near misses?
Yes. Near misses can provide valuable information about weaknesses in controls before someone is seriously injured.
What is incident investigation?
Incident investigation for small and medium sized business in Auckland and beyond, aims to determine root causes. This identifies corrective actions that can be implemented to reduce the likelihood or consequence of recurrence.
For less serious events, organisations can conduct internal investigations using their own staff. However, more serious event need a full investigation by trained professionals. Independent investigators remove the internal barriers and narrow field of vision that often limit in-house teams. We also don’t just pick the first and obvious cause, we dig deeper. In particular, robust incident investigations for Auckland and NZ SME companies should use best practice approaches to ensure all underlying causes are revealed.
How do we support incident investigations?
Winsland Health and Safety consultants support incident investigation for Auckland and NZ SME in many ways but primarily:
Investigation of serious events at the request of clients
Typically, one-off. Our team delivers investigation solutions for Auckland and NZ SME clients who request external analysis.
We use full root cause analysis based on the widely recognised ICAM methodology. This is underpinned with effective investigative skills built mainly on our experience in the aviation sector. Essentially, we help clients drive to the real contributing factors and build a reliable incident investigation process for Auckland and NZ SME businesses.
Incident investigation part of the Winsland Health and Safety App
Most investigations, organisations can do themselves. We provide a simple and a more advanced tool in our App to give companies the process they need to conduct their own investigations. This is consistent with our philosophy of aiming to make clients capably independent rather than dependent on external support or needing internal health and safety advisors.
Why incident investigation matters for a SME in NZ
Incident investigations matter as they are opportunities for improvement in your health and safety management system. They serve as signposts that there is an issue. The key is ensuring events are investigated and the root cause is identified rather than the most obvious cause. Experienced investigators will look beyond the obvious, which is critical as you do not want to be addressing a cause which is not really the thing causing the event. Notably, conducting thorough incident investigation for Auckland and NZ SME businesses means turning lessons learned into tangible safety actions.
How to go about an incident investigation
We use standard incident investigation tools and techniques to produce a through and professional evaluation of root causes and develop recommendations to address any issues. For Auckland and NZ SME organisations, following this process is essential for meaningful results and compliance.
Our Investigation Methodology
Initial Response: Secure the scene, notify key personnel, and provide necessary medical care.
Data Collection: Gather information through interviews, photographs, and the preservation of physical evidence. This comprehensive approach benefits incident investigation for Auckland and NZ SME companies seeking accuracy and improvement.
Expert Analysis: Determine causal factors and identify the root cause of the incident using established methodologies. Expert analysts ensure incident investigation for Auckland and NZ SME organisations is both thorough and credible.
Formulate Corrective Actions: Develop and implement strategies to prevent recurrence and assign responsibilities. This aspect is key in incident investigation for Auckland and NZ SME, with tailored recommendations for small and medium-sized enterprises.
Reporting: Document findings, communicate lessons learned, and file required reports.
Incident investigation reporting for Auckland and NZ SME ensures all parties are informed and valuable changes are implemented.
When to call in experts
Serious Harm & Fatality Investigations: High-level support for the most critical events, particularly if Worksafe are involved (which they normally will be for critical risk related events.
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Near-Miss Analysis: Investigating “close calls” before they become actual injuries.
Regulatory Liaison: Managing communication with health and safety inspectors and government bodies such as Worksafe.
Plant or systems failure: Supporting determination of cause and consequence of significant failures.
Case study – Warkworth near miss
Initially, a Main Contractor engaged a civil works company to lay services and recontour land on a large-scale building site. However, because the site was a former farm, access relied on an unstable and unsafe farm track. To address this, the contractor attempted to widen the track; consequently, during the work, a piece of earthmoving equipment slid down a bank. Although the operator escaped physical injury, the event exposed significant safety gaps. This serves as an example of why proper incident investigation for Auckland and NZ SME is crucial—to prevent near misses becoming severe incidents.
Subsequently, when the contractor’s initial investigation yielded limited results, the client commissioned Winsland to conduct a review. By applying the ICAM approach to lead our own investigation, we were ultimately able to deliver a comprehensive report to all parties. In doing so, our findings uncovered numerous root causes that the internal review had missed, thereby proving that a formal, independent process is vital for true organizational learning. It is evident that incident investigation for Auckland and NZ SME can reveal critical gaps and facilitate lasting improvement.
Worksafe
Have investigation as a core function. The Worksafe approach is described here and is applicable to incident investigation for Auckland and NZ SME.