California Accident Lawyers

All Fatalities, Serious Injuries, Serious Exposures, Or Catastrophes, Which Are Investigated As Accidents

It is the policy of the Division to conduct a thorough investigation of the cause of every industrial accident which results in any of the following: (1) a fatal injury to one or more employees; (2) a serious injury or illness; (3) a serious exposure; or (4) the inpatient hospitalization, regardless of duration, of three (3) or more employees. In the course of every accident investigation the Division will determine whether any violation(s) of Title 8 Safety Orders caused the accident, issue citations when appropriate, use the information gained from investigating the accident to prevent accidents of a similar nature in the future, and transmit copies of investigation reports, and final Orders of the Occupational Safety and Health Appeals Board, to the Registrar of Contractors, when an accident involves a contractor licensed by the Contractors State Licensing Board.

1. The Cal/OSHA 170A sets forth procedures for obtaining relevant evidence about the occurrence of an accident and the preparation of the Investigation Summary (OSHA 170) and the Narrative Summary (Cal/OSHA 170A).

2. An OSHA 170 and Cal/OSHA 170A shall be completed for:

All fatalities, serious injuries, serious exposures, or catastrophes (as defined in subsection B. below) which are investigated as accidents;

EXCEPTION:  If it is determined prior to conducting an investigation that the accident involved a fatality, serious injury, serious exposure or catastrophe which was not caused by a workplace condition, e.g., a heart attack, stroke or other medical disorder not related to working conditions, it is not necessary to conduct an inspection nor to complete an OSHA 170 or Cal/OSHA 170A.  If it is determined after an investigation is initiated that the accident involved a fatality, serious injury, serious exposure or catastrophe that was not caused by a workplace condition, then compliance personnel shall complete the Cal/OSHA 1 by marking Item 5.1 with "A,"  Item 24 with an "a," and Optional Information, Item 42, as S 16 (No 170s). 

All events which generate significant print or electronic media attention, but which did not involve a fatality, serious injury or serious exposure, e.g., explosion at a site where no employee was working at the time of the explosion, a crane collapse where no employees were injured, or a toxic release where no employees were exposed.
3.  Only one Investigation Summary (OSHA 170) shall be completed per accident regardless of how many different inspections resulted from the accident. Photocopies of the Investigation Summary shall be placed in each accident-related case file.

4.  Accident investigations are more complex and require a greater degree of technical and investigative skill to conduct than other types of nonprogrammed or programmed inspections. As a result, the procedures found in this P&P represent minimum guidelines for the conduct of accident investigations and additional procedures may be needed to conduct a particular accident investigation.

5.  Accident investigations often require coordination between the Division and other federal, state and local investigative agencies. In addition, compliance personnel must often interact during the course of an accident investigation with many different entities including employers, employer representatives, accident victims and their families, employees and employee representatives, the general public, and representatives of the electronic and print media.

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