Purpose of Accident Investigation
Accidents can occur at work, at home, at play, at school and while driving a vehicle in traffic. A number of entities may undertake an accident investigation depending upon where the accident occurred and the nature of the accident.
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Accidents at Work
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Accidents that occur in the workplace may be investigated by a staffer in the HR Department, a Risk Manager or a supervisor. Employees injured at work may be entitled to worker's compensation. The purpose of an accident investigation is to verify the cause, eliminate future hazards, reduce insurance claims and determine who was at fault. Employees claiming injury may be subject to scrutiny as to whether they were properly trained and supervised, whether they were following safety procedures and whether they were impaired due to intoxication. Employees who believe their workplace violates federal safety laws can contact OSHA for investigation by a third party.
Home Accidents
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Accidents at home may be investigated by police if major injury or death occurred. It may also be subject to investigation by insurance adjusters if the injury resulted in a home insurance claim. Parents question their children when an accident occurs to determine how to prevent it from reoccurring. Children with a record of frequent injuries may be scrutinized in the hospital emergency room to ensure that they are not subject to physical abuse at home.
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Recreational Accidents
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Accidents during recreation can trigger a variety of accident investigations. Injuries while boating may cause an investigation as to whether the boaters were intoxicated or being unsafe. Injuries at a theme park on a roller coaster will naturally result in an accident investigation by engineers, repairers and insurance adjusters due to the potential threat of harm to the public.
Auto Accidents
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After an auto accident, police called to the scene will investigate to determine how the accident occurred, whether traffic laws were followed and assignment of blame in the case of a multiple car accident. They will note the presence of mitigating factors such as bad weather, whether all drivers are duly licensed drivers and whether intoxication or illness played a part. In instances where fatalities resulted, police may attempt to reconstruct the accident and take photographs as to the position of the vehicles or skid marks. An expensive lawsuit may hinge upon the facts of the case. As part of their investigation, they will question victims and witnesses at the scene and photograph the position of the vehicles prior to clearing the scene. As a part of an insurance investigation and lawsuit, victims and witnesses may be subject to testifying in recorded depositions under oath.
Other Accidents
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When unexplained accidents occur in dense urban areas especially, terrorism may be suspected. In these instances, local police may be assisted in their investigation by the FBI and state or federal Homeland Security staff. These may include explosions in airports, subways or other areas. When airplane crashes occur, accident investigations are handled by the Federal Aviation Administration reviewing the scene, communications to air traffic controllers and searching for the all important "black box."
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