How safe are your incident management practices? Do they cater to the welfare of your staffs? Or are you confused about the best possible ways to go about it? For many companies without HSE software, these answers might be either a “No” or “Not sure”. We certainly understand how you are feeling however we have made deep research concerning how to make things easier and better.

In as much as no one likes the occurrence of disaster by ensuring due diligence to prevent it, it’s almost impossible to achieve. Rather we say it’s an inevitable occurrence. The most paramount thing every organization is required to do is to devise a well-drafted plan to tackle such challenges when they occur. The mode of response and communication are key factors towards correcting such incident.

Adopting a good practice for HSE incident management for your organization will surely give you heads up to recover from an incident that is bound to happen. When was the last time your company made an upgrade to its incident management practices? Or how well prepared are they towards unforeseen mishaps? It’s alright if this applies to your organization however be rest assured that we have gathered about six important tips to take into consideration that will improve your company’s management.

6 Best Tips to improve your HSE Incident Management Practices

• Adequate preparation: Have you heard about the ‘5Ps’? It simply means: Proper preparation prevents poor performance. Applying the ‘5Ps’ to every aspect of life sure leaves a great impact. Preparation means that incident reporting processes are well defined along with the communication channels. Let your employees be aware of the roles they’re meant to play when such an incident occur. By this, you will be rest assured that you’ll get concrete data immediately. Images are valuable tools that can be included which will aid the investigation. This is the essence of preparation itself, getting data when it’s still fresh makes it better. Furthermore, to make things in an orderly manner, ensure that every employee knows what roles they are meant to play rather than running around in circles. Those who work best under pressure should be notified first and hence should be given more responsibilities than others.
• Proper coordination: What happens after collating the data? Will it end there? It should certainly not end there. Every person in charge of incident management must take the next step towards handling the situation in a professional manner. If the situation is a mild one, it should be treated as such however if it requires tough handling then it should given such. The important thing is that the response team should give a fast response to curtailing it. Good coordination of incidents leads to effective management.
• Effective communication: There’s a common quote which states that ‘a problem shared is a problem half solved’. How does this relate to HSE incident management? Whenever a report is received, it’s important that all stakeholders are immediately informed. This includes the HSEQ team, management, and clients. Your clients getting to know of such an event from a third-party source worsens the situation. It’s certainly going to decrease your level of trust and loyalty before them. Furthermore, ensure that your mode of reporting the incident to them is professional. Minor situations may require sending some emails while major ones definitely require a phone call.
• Find out what action to take: After informing all stakeholders, it’s expected that they’ll demand to know what caused the incident and what steps you’ll be taking onwards. That is why it I important to have software that links risk management and incident reporting together. Divide the solutions into short and long-term goals. Ensure that the short-term ones are immediately attended to after the root causes have been identified. Tasks should be clearly assigned to people for faster results. The long-term solutions can entail having a series of meetings that will determine the right course of action to be taken. Such steps, most times, will calm things down.
• Prompt update: It’s known for people to appreciate anyone who gives them update. Making people acquainted about the conditions that led to the incident whether you are at fault or not, the steps you have taken to manage the risks and others will certainly help them to avoid such incidents. It will ensure that they improve their radar to such an extent that a similar incident will not occur.
• Concrete feedback: As little as it seems, lack of it can leave deadly traces on the minds of people. Even when success results are attained, it’s required to give the one who brought about the success feedback. Giving feedback to those who reported the incident is more crucial. This shows that one appreciated their efforts. This will prevent them from abstaining from reporting a similar occurrence when it occurs. Likewise, it will make them increase their trust for the company thereafter.

Conclusion

With the highlighted tips above, Beakon believes that any company that applies them will surely improve their HSE incident management practices. Finally, it’s important to always review all the plans and steps taken from the incident reporting to the evacuation. This will come handy when future incidents occur and as a result, no one will be dumbfounded about what to do.

And here we are. These are the tips that we believe will be a turning point for improving your company’s incident management processes. To get started with using one of the best incident management software in the market, click here to start your free trial today.

Related Articles You Might Also Like:

HSE Audit Checklist: 10 Things You Need to Do

4 Strategic Ways to Justify Switching to a new QHSE Software

What to Look for When Choosing an HSEQ Compliance software

HSE Audit Management: 10 Tips Every Safety Manager Should Know