Evaluating the effectiveness of an investigation board for workplace accidents

This paper examines the activities of the Swedish Work Environment Authority's Accident Investigation Board. It first gives an outline of the board's role and a summary of the previous literature on accident investigation. It then proposes an investigation methodology, the CHAIN model, which forms the theoretical point of departure of the paper. It describes the methods used in the empirical study, and examines the board's investigation criteria and how these were implemented. A summary of the effects of the board's reports on affected companies is presented, along with a survey of SWEA inspectors and interviews with workplace inspectors and others who have an interest in workplace accident investigation. Finally, the study's results are compared to the CHAIN model, with the conclusions that: the board has been successful in establishing a high qualitative standard for investigating workplace accidents the investigation process should be speeded up if the board's reports are to realise their full potential dissemination of the reports must be improved, and a follow-up system is needed.