Sharing lessons learnt from health and safety incident investigations

Incident investigations and sensitive information

As part of the UCL Health and Safety Management System and to promote a positive culture, all health and safety incidents are investigated to provide information on lessons learned which can be shared with the wider UCL community. 

Due to the sensitive nature of incident investigations from the medical information of injured parties, training information of people involved and many other human factors, there is concern about sharing the information about incidents to the wider audience which may have an adverse effect on those involved. 

Safety Services has worked with the Legal Team to ensure that the information provided in the incident investigation report has taken this is into account and therefore can be shared.

Changes to investigation report

The information provided for dissemination and discussion includes: 

• A factual summary of the events  
• A summary of the conclusions and recommendations  (Lesson Learnt)
• An action plan of how to implement the agreed recommendation 

What is not included is:

• Any personal information, including medical information.
• Any individual statements or opinions on the incident 

This process makes it possible for all senior managers to review and share these documents with their teams so that lessons can be learnt without any issues with data protection.