Incident Investigation, Root Cause Analysis and Report Writing Resources
See below for the ever-expanding TOP-SET resource library to assist with your problem solving.
Here you can find articles and papers on relevant topics and various incident investigation resources, all of which have been specifically designed to help make your investigations more efficient and effective. These materials are designed to complement the development practices taught on the TOP-SET Investigation Courses. However, if you haven’t attended a course, please do not worry; they should work equally well to expand your existing knowledge and skills.
Buy The Practical Handbook of Investigation : An Essential Resource For Any Investigator
Find out more about Kelvin TOP-SET Professional Incident Investigation Courses and why many of the world’s leading companies use the TOP-SET system.
Should there be any other resources that you would like to see here, please contact us to let us know.
Kelvin TOP-SET Papers
The purpose of a report is to communicate. Your job, therefore, is to create a straight-forward piece of writing which, step by step, conveys to the readers clearly and unambiguously what happened, why and your recommendations. An investigation is pointless if you do not do this. Continue reading.
Download as PDFÂ (393 KB)
Don’t rush into the interview. Make sure you have thought of questions you want to ask and what you need to know. But be flexible; be able to follow where the interviewee leads if it seems likely to yield information. Continue reading.
Download as PDFÂ (373 KB)
Do not ‘go it alone’ if you can avoid it. Good investigation requires discussion and it is all too easy to agree with yourself! Different types of people see things from different perspectives and in investigation you want to make use of this. Continue reading.
Download as PDFÂ (340 KB)
It is important that you do not rush into the analysis before really checking that you have done all you can to gather the information you need. Some individuals are more likely than others to go for closure, the solution, before all the investigating has been exhausted. Continue reading.
Download as PDFÂ (385 KB)
Investigators often rush in immediately and do not give time to thinking through the best way forward: people to be involved in the team, timing of task, who to do what etc. Nothing is gained and much is lost by proceeding in a rushed or haphazard fashion. Continue reading.
Download as PDFÂ (418 KB)
Nobody likes writing reports. Nobody really likes writing anything; this applies to professional writers as much (if not more) than to the rest of us who have to write to communicate, on top of our other responsibilities. Continue reading.
Download as PDFÂ (410 KB)
Nothing is obvious. Most of your information comes from people. Never try to prove a hypothesis; try to disprove it. Continue reading.
Download as PDFÂ (233 KB)
Causality is the admission that you are the source of your manifestations i.e. that things do not just ‘happen’ to you or in your environment. In other words, everything that you attract into your world is coming at you because of something you are projecting out into that world. Continue reading.
Download as PDFÂ (311 KB)
Andrew Morton, Senior Tutor at Kelvin TOP-SET, explores the definition of Root Cause Analysis taken directly from Wikipedia.
It is worth considering because an appreciation of the errors made in the definition should strengthen our understanding of the fundamentals of RCA. Continue reading.
Change and failure are fundamental to every incident. Without change(s) and failure(s) there would be NO incident. Every good investigator will be looking for both changes and failures, but as they do, they should keep in mind that all changes are not failures, and all failures are not changes! Continue reading.
The TOP-SET system of Root Cause Analysis (RCA) has been refined over many years and leads the world in terms of both its simplicity and effectiveness;  Continue reading
Kelvin TOP-SET MD DAVID RAMSAY tells RAIL why the company is the leading authority in incident investigation  Continue reading
If you think safety is expensive, try having an accident. Kelvin TOP-SET Infographic about the real costs of accidents in the workplace. Click Infographic for larger view.
Download as PDF
Invest in Prevention through Investigation
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An example of the real costs of an accident in the workplace. Download doc
Downloadable Tools
Incident Report Form
Free Incident Report Form for you to download, share and use as you see fit to improve the recording of incidents in your organisation.
Download as PDFÂ (500 KB)
Incident Costing Calculator
Use this simple tool to work out the real costs of incidents in the workplace. Download doc
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