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Reframing How We Analyze Incident Investigations With Visual Literacy

Written by Colin Duncan | Apr 2, 2019 7:38:00 PM

What level of confidence do you have that your incident analysis tells you what REALLY happened? Are you certain you are getting the whole story? Are events being recreated accurately?  And is your event analysis reflecting the inputs, and the eyes, of all those who have insight?

Safety professionals struggle with these questions because the factors that lead to unplanned incidents are hard to see in retrospect. This is a function of several things including our ability to ‘re-see’ the conditions, hazards, and circumstances that existed at the time.

Visual Literacy helps us to improve how we reconstruct our understanding of events. No matter if it’s an incident, a near miss, a spill or release, finding an effective way to engage our teams in understanding what was and what was not seen is fundamental to learning from incidents and taking the appropriate corrective actions. Using Visual Literacy tools and techniques allows us to improve the quality of the incident analysis itself. It also helps us appreciate what workers may have seen, interpreted and reacted to in the moment. Rebuilding the visual elements of the incident helps us properly understand the whole picture and the correct responses.

Please join us on May 16th for our complimentary webinar to hear more about how Visual Literacy can support your safety program. Our focus will be on the challenges of incident investigation and analysis and how to build Visual Literacy into your processes and improve how you and your teams learn from safety incidents and events.