Purpose

An accident reporting and investigation plan prescribes methods and practices for reporting and investigating accidents that can be read and understood by all managers, supervisors, and employees. No matter how conscientious the safety effort at a company, accidents are going to happen sometimes due to human or system error.

This written Accident Reporting and Investigation Plan is intended to demonstrate Principia's compliance with the requirements in 29 CFR 1904 by:

• prescribing methods and practices for reporting and investigating accidents, and
• providing a means to deal with workplace accidents in a standardized way.

In addition it is the policy of PRINCIPIA College to comply with all workers' compensation laws and regulations.

The requirements of this plan apply to all operations and departments at 100 Maybeck Place Elsah, IL 62028

Administrative Duties

Our Workplace Safety Director, or designee, is responsible for implementing and maintaining this written Accident Reporting and Investigation Plan. He/She is solely responsible for all facets of the plan and has full authority to make necessary decisions to ensure the success of this plan. The Director of Safety, or designee, is also qualified, by appropriate training and experience, which is commensurate with the complexity of the plan, to administer or oversee our accident reporting and investigation program and conduct the required evaluations.

This written Accident Reporting and Investigation Plan is kept at our corporate office and in our written Safety and Health Program.

Accident Reporting Procedures

Employees injured on the job are to report the injury to their supervisor as soon as possible after the incident/accident. Near miss accidents or incidents (when an employee nearly has an accident but is able to avoid it) should be reported as well.

The supervisor must immediately notify the Director of Safety, or designee, when an incident/accident occurs. If the Director of Safety, or designee, is not available, another member of management should be notified instead.

Any employee witnessing an accident at work is to call for emergency help or whatever assistance appears to be necessary. In addition, the employee is immediately to report the accident to his or her supervisor and take part in answering questions related to the Accident Report and Accident Investigation.

Accident Investigation Procedures

Thorough investigation of all accidents will lead to identification of accident causes and will help:

• reduce economic losses from injuries and lost productive time;
• determine why accidents occur, where they happen, and any trends that might be developing;
• employees develop an awareness of workplace problems and hazards;
• identify areas for process improvement to increase safety and productivity;
• note areas where training information or methods need to be improved; and
• suggest a focus for safety program development.

For all accident investigations, the Director of Safety, or designee, will perform the following duties:

• Conduct the accident investigation at the scene of the injury as soon after the injury as safely possible.
• Ask the employee involved in the accident and any witnesses, in separate interviews, to tell in their own words exactly what happened.
• Repeat the employee's version of the event back to him/her and allow the employee to make any corrections or additions.
• After the employee has given his/her description of the event, ask appropriate questions that focus on causes.
• When finished, remind the employee that the investigation was to determine the cause and possible corrective action that can eliminate the cause(s) of the accident.
• Complete an accident investigation report with the employee and review data with employee for accuracy. This will provide information to put into database format.

The accident investigation report is used to:

• track and report injuries on a monthly basis;
• group injuries by type, cause, body part affected, time of day, and process involved;
• determine if any trends in injury occurrence exist and graph those trends if possible;
• identify any equipment, materials, or environmental factors that seem to be commonly involved in injury incidents;
• discuss the possible solutions to the problems identified with the safety team and superiors; and
• proceed with improvements to reduce the likelihood of future injuries.

Injury/Medical Issues

If a workplace accident results in injury or illness requiring hospitalization of three or more employees or a fatality of one or more employee, the Director of Safety, or designee, or corporate office reports the incident within eight hours by phone or in person to the nearest OSHA office by calling 1-800-321-OSHA (6742).

If an injured person is taken to a doctor, a statement from the doctor will be attached to the Accident Report form.

Employees with workplace injuries resulting in time off work will be put in the company's Return-to-Work Program to facilitate their full recovery and resumption of original work.

Weekly compensation for workplace injuries or illnesses requiring time off work, as indicated by law, applies after the third day of wage loss. (Sundays are not included in the three-day waiting period, unless the employee ordinarily works on Sunday.)

If the disability continues for more than seven calendar days, workers' compensation goes back to day one.

On the day of injury, the company will cover the time loss due to doctor and/or emergency room visits or inability to work, up to a maximum of 12 hours.

Any time an associate is away from work because of an accident on-the-job, it should be recorded on the time sheet.

Recordkeeping

The Director of Safety, or designee, is responsible for maintaining the following records and documentation:

• OSHA 200 log of injuries and illnesses
• Accident investigation reports
• Training records

Training

This plan is an internal document guiding the action and behaviors of employees, so they need to know about it. To communicate the new accident reporting and investigation plan, all employees are given a thorough explanation as to why the new plan was prepared and how individuals may be affected by it.

The information and requirements of this written plan are presented to employees in annual training, on the job safety briefs, or at staff meetings.