SAF Incident Investigation 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In Heinrich's Triangle (safety triangle), what does the base of the triangle represent?
- Fatalities
- Lost-time injuries
- Near misses and unsafe acts (Correct answer)
- First-aid injuries
Correct answer: Near misses and unsafe acts
Heinrich's Triangle places the large number of near misses and unsafe behaviors at the base, supporting fewer serious incidents above.
Question 2: Which investigative method uses a timeline to map events, conditions, and causal factors in sequence?
- Barrier analysis
- Events and causal factors charting (Correct answer)
- Management oversight and risk tree (MORT)
- Bowtie analysis
Correct answer: Events and causal factors charting
Events and causal factors charting arranges incidents on a timeline to reveal how contributing conditions aligned to produce the outcome.
Question 3: What is 'management system failure' in incident investigation?
- A failure of front-line workers to follow procedures
- An organizational-level breakdown in policies, training, or oversight that allowed the incident to occur (Correct answer)
- Equipment malfunction due to poor maintenance scheduling
- The inability of emergency responders to contain an incident
Correct answer: An organizational-level breakdown in policies, training, or oversight that allowed the incident to occur
Management system failures reflect deficiencies in how an organization plans, communicates, trains, or oversees safety — often the deepest root cause.
Question 4: Which of the following best describes a 'contributing cause' in incident investigation?
- The single event that immediately triggered the incident
- A condition or factor that increased the likelihood or severity of the incident (Correct answer)
- The absence of personal protective equipment
- The first failure identified during root cause analysis
Correct answer: A condition or factor that increased the likelihood or severity of the incident
Contributing causes are factors that, while not solely responsible, worsened conditions or increased the probability of the incident occurring.
Question 5: OSHA requires employers to investigate incidents primarily to:
- Fulfill insurance carrier requirements
- Identify hazards and prevent recurrence (Correct answer)
- Document worker negligence for disciplinary action
- Generate data for annual safety awards
Correct answer: Identify hazards and prevent recurrence
OSHA's underlying purpose for incident investigation is hazard identification and prevention of future similar events, not blame assignment.
Question 6: A 'barrier' in barrier analysis refers to:
- Physical fencing around a hazardous area
- Any control intended to prevent a hazard from causing harm (Correct answer)
- A legal restriction on investigating certain incidents
- The boundary between two work zones
Correct answer: Any control intended to prevent a hazard from causing harm
In barrier analysis, barriers are controls — physical, procedural, or administrative — that either failed or were absent, allowing the incident to occur.
Question 7: Which information source is most valuable for identifying pre-incident warning signs?
- Post-incident media reports
- Historical near-miss and hazard observation records (Correct answer)
- Workers' compensation claim summaries
- Annual safety performance bonuses
Correct answer: Historical near-miss and hazard observation records
Near-miss and hazard observation records capture pre-incident warning signals that often predict where serious incidents will eventually occur.
SAF Incident Investigation 3
In Heinrich's Triangle (safety triangle), what does the base of the triangle represent?