Investigating Incidents within One's Company by Interviewing Personnel - Essay Example

Investigating Incidents within Ones Company by Interviewing Personnel Becomes Particularly Difficult Because Different Principles Apply Depending Upon Whether the Incident Leads To a Criminal Prosecution or a Disciplinary Hearing" Table of Contents "Investigating Incidents within Ones Company by Interviewing Personnel Becomes Particularly Difficult Because Different Principles Apply Depending Upon Whether the Incident Leads To a Criminal Prosecution or a Disciplinary Hearing" 1 Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Basic Tenets of Incident Investigation 4 Complexities in Applying Appropriate Principles when Investigating in Ones Company 6 Critical Evaluation 9 9 Recommendations 11 Conclusion 14 References 15 Introduction In the present business scenario, companies are required to adopt different policies along with regulations with the objective of ensuring that the business operations are conducted in an appropriate manner. Additionally, the corporate sectors adopt effective measures internally as well as externally in order to ensure performing business operations ethically in accordance with government regulations and corporate governance policies. The business operations of corporate sectors might get affected due to various unplanned incidents that include property damage, fire, work-related injury, spill and occupational illness among others. Additionally, the undesired incidents will adversely affect the business performances along with the profitability margin of corporate sectors by a considerable extent (Lorenzo & Hanson, 2008). In this regard, an investigation is required to be conducted with the aim of identifying the reasons or the root causes that are accountable for the happening of the incidents. In this context, the management of corporate sectors should formulate as well as implement policies along with measures to develop an effective investigation procedure. The investigation process will certainly assist the management in analysing all minor as well as major incidents towards the attainment of a valid outcome. Additionally, the investigation process will aid in adopting as well as implementing corrective measures for mitigating future occurrence of identified incidents. It might also assist is examining gaps and trends and accordingly formulate improvement plans to minimise the occurrence of unplanned incidences (Ferry, 1988). Contextually, the management of corporate sectors are entitled with the responsibility of developing and implementing effective principles. The principles adopted should assist in investigating situations relating to unplanned incidents in an effective manner. These principles might aid in interviewing employees without any violation of their respective rights (Lorenzo & Hanson, 2008). In this regard, the essay emphasizes analysing the principles that are important for conducting incident investigation. Additionally, complexities in relation to the applicability of corporate principles during investigation process would be studied and critically evaluated in the essay. Based on the evaluation, recommendations would be made in order to improve the effectiveness of the incident investigation process. Basic Tenets of Incident Investigation In corporate sector, the management team is required to develop effective policies along with principles based on which the investigation process in relation to unplanned incidents is conducted. In this respect, the investigation process ought to be based on certain principles with the assistance of which the factors accountable for unplanned incidents can be identified. Contextually, a proper analysis of the factors will assist in developing corrective measures to mitigate or minimise the occurrence of unplanned incidents. In this regard, the objectives of incident investigation lay in safeguarding employees from the occurrence of unplanned incidents’ risks, providing effective health along with safety provisions to workers and reducing reoccurrences of identical future incidents (Lorenzo & Hanson, 2008; Lingard & Rowlinson, 2004). There are certain principles based on which the incident investigation process should be conducted suitably. These have been discussed hereunder. An incident investigation is conducted with the objective of determining the truth, so that future occurrence of incidents can be mitigated In the investigation process, evidence sources are required to be exploited based on the incident’s facts The interval duration, which exists between call-time as well as response-time should be reduced for quick solutions The investigator is entrusted with the duty of collecting evidences and investigating those to derive final conclusions from the facts The investigation should possess adequate physical evidences in order to conduct in-depth research Adequate efforts ought to be provided in order to acquire appropriate witness evidences An in-depth analysis should be made with the intention of obtaining right answers Throughout the procedure of investigation, the information obtained should be noted in a written format appropriately Information is the imperative aspect of the investigation process and in this respect, ample opportunities must be offered for effective cultivation of information Proper importance should be made in the area of interrogation, observation as well as information for successful investigation (Government of Western Australia, 2014). Based on the above discussed principles of incident investigation, the interviewer should conduct the investigation process in such a way, so that adequate evidences are collected in relation to the occurrence of the incident. The investigative interview is important owing to the reason that valuable information in relation to the involvement of convicted employees, obtaining a better explanation from them and gathering appropriate information from witnesses. Specially mentioning, the investigation process ought to be conducted in a systematic manner with the aim of ensuring that disciplinary actions are undertaken in a timely manner. Additionally, based on the investigation procedure, the investigators might face certain adequate challenges to determine whether the incident facts are related to disciplinary or criminal offences. In this respect, on analysis, if the incident is identified to be disciplinary offence, then the employee should be informed through a written notification. The written notification should comprise adequate information in relation to the facts based on which the decisions have been undertaken. Moreover, the convicted employee should be provided with ample written evidence stating the witness statements. Contextually, investigatory meeting ought to be arranged before making any prosecution decision. In organisational context, employees are not provided with statutory rights to participate in investigatory meeting but might be offered with the right to participate by the employers. In such meeting, the cases whether disciplinary or criminal one will be conducted based on evidences and facts collected. The employees will also be offered with the opportunity of protecting and preparing for the case. Subsequent to the meeting, the employers on deciding to the case should present the disciplinary or criminal actions undertaken in written format to the employees (ACAS, 2012). In case of wrong judgement, the convicted employees might appeal to the employers in writing. Additionally, the convicted employees are liable to present the facts based on which the appeal has been made. Accordingly, the employers are held accountable for holding a meeting at a desired time as well as place for hearing the appeal and accordingly, the decisions made should be presented in writing to the convicted employees. In case of identification of criminal offence, the employers should focus on the effects that arise from the job responsibilities along with the relationships that exist amid customers, employers as well as colleagues (ACAS, 2012). In incident investigation, certain procedures are required to be followed with the aim of ascertaining that investigation is carried out in an efficient manner. Moreover, the individuals associated with incident investigation should be aware of their respective roles along with responsibilities so that the investigation proceeds appropriately with accuracy. In this regard, the first and foremost step of the incident investigation procedure is to collect adequate evidences in relation to unplanned incidents. The evidences collected will provide adequate information about the facts responsible for the occurrence of the incidents. In the next step, an investigator is entrusted with the responsibility of identifying the root cause accountable for the rise of the incidents affecting business performance and reputation of corporations. The recognition of the root cause will certainly facilitate the interviewers in determining the direct reasons of an incident. The investigation process should be conducted in a well-structured manner with the aim of formulating right measures to mitigate future occurrences of root causes of the incidents. The investigators after conducting the investigation should document the incident along with the findings and facts obtained. After the documentation process, the findings along with other relevant information should be properly scrutinised and followed up with the objective of ensuring that corrective actions are undertaken accordingly (RIT, 2014). Complexities in Applying Appropriate Principles when Investigating in Ones Company Incident investigation is an important procedure of obtaining adequate information in relation to unplanned incidents that have occurred in corporations, affecting their operations along with working environment. Specially mentioning, the investigation process tends to acquire a better idea about the facts that are accountable for the cause of incidents and measures to be adopted for mitigating future occurrences of such incidents. In the investigation process, the investigators and the interviewers are identified to face ample challenges. In this regard, the investigators or the interviewers are required to be trained in an effective manner, so that they are facilitated with the opportunity of performing their respective operations proficiently. It can be affirmed that unplanned incidents might rise from disciplinary or criminal act of employees. Contextually, the disciplinary along with criminal investigations differ in their processes along with purposes. In this regard, different investigators competent in their respective areas should conduct disciplinary as well as criminal investigations. Disciplinary as along with criminal investigations differ in various factors that include proof standards, purposes, outcomes and evidence rules and accordingly, the investigators should conduct their investigations based on their competencies along with experiences. Subsequently, proper execution of the interview as well as the investigation process might ensure that necessary findings and facts will be obtained with better integrity. In this context, it can be apparently comprehended that in the initial stage of the occurrence or the identification of any unplanned incident, it will be inappropriate for the investigators or the interviewers to determine whether the cause is related to disciplinary or criminal offence of employees. Contextually, the investigators might face challenges in implementing the investigation principles in an appropriate manner due to differences in the procedures of investigating disciplinary along with criminal offences and complex investigation process (Crown, 2014; NHS, 2013; Commonwealth of Australia, 2008). The interviewers or investigators might also face complex as well as challenging situations during the investigation process, leading to inappropriate situations. The common issues that arise during the interview process have been elaborated hereunder. Employee Refusing to Answer Question In the procedure of incident investigation, the decisive factor is to collect relevant and necessary information in relation to factors that are accountable for the occurrence of unplanned incidents. It would be vital to mention that valuable information and evidences are collected from the employees, based on which decisions are generally made. In this regard, there lay certain employees, who seem to be quite uncooperative and often refuse to provide appropriate information about the incident and the factors that are responsible for its occurrence. In this context, the investigators might not be able to conduct the interrogation process in accordance with the determined investigation principles (UBC, n.d.). Employee Interrupting in the Questioning Process There are certain employees who provide unsuitable responses to the questions asked by the interviewers. Moreover, the employees might interrupt in the interview process by raising different unrelated issues leading to misleading information. The employees raising unrelated issues might divert them from the interview topic to certain other topic. Respectively, the investigators might face challenges in collecting appropriate information and implementing investigation principles suitably (UBC, n.d.). Caucus during the Interview It can be apparently observed that employees often use caucus sessions with the intention of disrupting the investigation process. The use of caucus sessions might adversely affect the confidence of the employees due to the fear of arbitration in future. Thus, employees practicing caucus sessions during the interview process are often identified to be scepticism in their approach leading to misleading facts or information. In this respect, the investigators might face the challenge of conducting the investigation process in an effective manner (UBC, n.d.). Threat of Resigning during the Interview Investigators might face ample challenges during the interview process in relation to collect suitable information due to the threat of resignation on behalf of the employees. This can be justified with reference to the fact that employees might resign during the interview process while facing difficult questions. In this regard, the investigators might become incapable of conducting the investigation process in accordance with desired investigation procedures and principles (UBC, n.d.). Union Representative to Answer on behalf of Employee during Interview Process In certain cases of the interview process, union representatives might participate in the process to provide answers to the interview questions on behalf of the employees. In this regard, the information obtained from the interview process might be misleading and inappropriate. Contextually, the investigators might ineffectively implement the principles of investigation (UBC, n.d.). Subsequently, the investigators or the interviewers might not be facilitated with the opportunity of conducting the investigation in a systematic and structured way. Moreover, the investigators collecting inadequate facts along with unclear evidences will not be able to decide whether the convicted employees will be charged on disciplinary or criminal ground. Critical Evaluation As per the above discussion, it can be affirmed that incident investigation is an important procedure based on which valuable information in relation to the incidents and the factors accountable for those are identified effectively. In this similar concern, the employers with the conduct of incident investigation procedure are often facilitated with the opportunity of collecting adequate information for making effective decisions relating to disciplinary or criminal actions that are to be undertaken against convicted employees. In this respect, the management of corporate sectors ensure that the business operations are conducted effectively by developing an efficient working environment and coordinating the operational activities of employees successfully. In this regard, unplanned incidents including property damages, fires and occupational illnesses among others should be managed in an appropriate manner with the aim of investigating the root causes and ascertaining that the future occurrences of such incidents are mitigated (Safe Work, 2003). It is worth mentioning that investigative interviews play a decisive role in the investigation process with the objective of collecting relevant information about the misconducts that perform by an employee. In this regard, a proper execution of the investigation process assists in certifying the involvement of the convicted employees in the misconduct, leading towards the occurrence of unplanned incidents. Moreover, the interviewer will also be able to recognise the reasons behind the occurrence of such incident or misconduct (Gentry, 2005). There lay certain procedures along with principles based on which the incident investigation process should be conducted. In this respect, the investigators or the interviewers should conduct the interview or investigation in compliance with the principles, so that adequate evidences are obtained. The principles of incident investigation imply that investigation process is conducted with the aim of revealing truth. In this context, a better interrogative procedure should be followed with the intention of ascertaining that ample evidences are obtained from the incident’s facts. Additionally, the investigation process ought to take into concern physical evidences, so that the investigation is conducted in a more precise along with clear manner. In this investigation process i.e. incident investigation, there are certain important factors that require to be considered with utmost importance. These factors typically comprise information, interrogation along with observation. Contextually, the investigators are required to conduct their investigation process based on investigation principles with the intention of determining the factors that are accountable for the occurrence of the incidents. Moreover, a proper analysis of the facts and evidences relating to the incidents will assist investigators in determining whether an employee accountable for the occurrence of the incident will be convicted based on the ground of disciplinary or criminal offences (Government of Western Australia, 2014; UBC, n.d.). Notably, the investigators during the incident investigation process often face adequate challenges while collecting evidences. Arguably, apart from this, the investigators often face various complex situations during the interview process such as employee’s refusal to respond and answer interview questions. Moreover, during the interview procedure, employees might interrupt the investigation procedure in the form of resigning as well as forming caucus sessions. Respectively, the investigators facing challenges along with hindrances during the interview process might become much incapable of collecting adequate evidences and facts for making effective decisions. Contextually, the investigators will be unable to decide whether the investigation should be conducted based on disciplinary or criminal principles (Gentry, 2005; UBC, n.d.). It has been argued that the incident investigation process differs on the ground of the acts perform by the employees, leading towards the occurrence unplanned incidents. It can be apparently noted that the offences committed by the employees are primarily based on two aspects that include criminal offences and disciplinary offences. In this regard, the investigation process and decisions made differs between disciplinary investigation and criminal investigation. Respectively, different investigators based on their expertise must conduct disciplinary investigation along with criminal investigation separately. It would be vital to mention that the investigation processes mainly differ based on various factors that include evidence rules, investigation purposes, actions to be undertaken and proof standards. In this respect, conducting investigations in separate procedures would certainly assist investigators in obtaining appropriate information and evidences with better integrity (Crown, 2014; NHS, 2013; Commonwealth of Australia, 2008). As earlier mentioned, the investigators might face ample challenges in conducting the interview or investigation procedure in a structured manner. Subsequently, the investigators might also fail in implementing the investigation principles in an appropriate way. Arguably, the investigators facing challenges to conduct the interview process in adherence with the desired investigation principles might be incapable of determining the root causes that might lead towards the occurrence of such incidents in future. In precise, the investigators face complex situations on the identification of both disciplinary as well as criminal acts that are accountable for the occurrences of incidents. Specially mentioning, criminal offences are identified in accordance with the behaviours along with the individual actions of the employees affecting their job responsibilities and employees relationship. Thus, on the recognition of criminal offences, the investigators should contact appropriate authorities, so that appropriate criminal actions can be taken against the convicted employees (NHS, 2013; Commonwealth of Australia, 2008). Recommendations Incident investigation is an important tool of identifying facts along with information that are responsible for the occurrence of unplanned incidents. Additionally, incident investigation facilitates in developing workplace environment by improving safety along with health conditions, minimising risks and mitigating future occurrence of identified incidents. In this regard, certain recommendations have been made in the following, ensuring that incident investigations are conducted in an appropriate manner. Incident Cause Analysis Method (ICAM) Method Companies can adopt and follow effective framework or model in accordance with which the incident investigation process is conducted smoothly to identify root causes of unplanned incidents and mitigate reoccurrence of such incidents. In this regard, the companies might adopt ‘Incident Cause Analysis Method’ (ICAM) as an approach for conducting the procedure of incident investigation effectually. Theoretically, ICAM is based on the concept of inevitability in relation to human error. The design of ICAM facilitates in examining human error, mechanical error and management decisions among others. ICAM is based on certain objectives that include obtaining adequate facts about the incidents and conducting investigations in vast areas comprising operational, personnel and mechanical problems among others. Additionally, the ICAM method aids in reviewing control as well as principles adopted in the investigation process. The method requires to be implemented in a proactive manner with the aim of offering better safety measures and enhancing overall business performances. Contextually, the method will aid investigators in conducting the investigation process in accordance with the determined investigation principles. Most importantly, the investigators will be facilitated with the opportunity of investigating disciplinary as well as criminal offences effectively through ICAM method by taking into concern the factors accountable for the occurrence of incidents (Landre & et. al., 2006). Training and Pre-Planning Opportunity The investigators involved with the investigation process ought to be provided with effective training services in order to ensure that investigators are able to conduct the process systematically. Additionally, the training facilities will ascertain that the investigators are able to identify root causes appropriately, make effective decisions and adopt along with implement corrective measures efficiently. The investigators should also devise pre-plans with the intention of ensuring that on the recognition of incidents, they are able to conduct investigation based on desired principles. Pre-planning will also facilitate investigators in conducting the interview in accordance with suitable principles according to disciplinary investigation or criminal investigation (OSHA, 2000). Conclusion As per the above discussion and analysis, it can be comprehended that incidents are identified as unplanned events comprising occupational illness, fires and spills among others, which adversely affects the business operations of companies. Additionally, apart from these, incidents are also recognised to influence business performances along with working conditions. In this regard, incident investigation is an important tool of analysing and identifying the root causes accountable for the occurrence of incidents and developing preventive measures to minimise the reoccurrence of the same. Observably, certain unplanned incidents are often caused by personnel of companies through the execution of disciplinary or criminal offenses. In this regard, the investigation processes differ based on the offenses committed by them. In this respect, the investigators face adequate challenges in implementing the investigation principles and conducting investigation process in accordance with the disciplinary and the criminal offences performed by them. In the interview process, the convicted employees are identified to be reluctant in answering the questions and accordingly, the investigators face complexities in obtaining adequate information. Subsequently, the investigators are challenged in implementing appropriate principles for conducting the interview procedure based on criminal and disciplinary investigation principles. Thus, it can be concluded that investigating unplanned incidents becomes quite difficult by interviewing personnel as the application of diverse principles rely upon whether those incidents have leaded towards a criminal prosecution or a disciplinary hearing. References ACAS, 2012. Discipline and Grievances at Work. Media. [Online] Available at: http://www.acas.org.uk/media/pdf/s/o/Acas-Guide-on-discipline-and grievances_at_work_(April_11)-accessible-version-may-2012.pdf [Accessed February 20, 2014]. Commonwealth of Australia, 2008. Handling Misconduct. A Good Practice Guide. [Online] Available at: http://www.apsc.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/6175/misconduct.pdf [Accessed February 20, 2014]. Crown, 2014. Overnment’s Approach to Discipline Procedures Where Criminal Proceedings are also Involved. 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Occupational Health and Safety in Construction Project Management. Routledge. Lorenzo, D. K. & Hanson, W. E., 2008. Root Cause Analysis Handbook: A Guide to Efficient and Effective Incident Investigation. Rothstein Associates Inc. NHS, 2013. Applying Appropriate Sanctions Consistently. Policy Statement. [Online] Available at: http://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/Documents/CounterFraud/Applying_appropriate_sanctions_consistently_-_Policy_statement_April_2013.pdf [Accessed February 20, 2014]. OSHA, 2000. Process Safety Management. U.S. Department of Labour. [Online] Available at: https://www.osha.gov/Publications/osha3132.pdf [Accessed February 20, 2014]. RIT, 2014. Incident Investigation Process and Exercise. Training. [Online] Available at: https://www.rit.edu/~w-outrea/training/Module3/M3_IncidInvesProcess_wExer.pdf [Accessed February 20, 2014]. Safe Work, 2003. A Guide to Investigating Workplace Incidents. Workplace Safety and Health Committee. 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