Investigation of Work-Related Accidents and Diseases
Investigating workplace accidents and occupational diseases is essential to strengthen safety, prevention, and continuous improvement within the company, thereby protecting health and safety of workers. It is not just about fulfilling a legal obligation, but about learning from these incidents to prevent their recurrence.
Article 123, Section A of the Political Constitution of Mexico establishes that “every person has the right to decent and safe work, under conditions that guarantee life, health, and physical integrity.” This means that the State must pass laws and regulations that ensure risk-free work environments. When a workplace hazard occurs, the State (through laws and regulations) demands its investigation to protect this constitutional right to work safety.
In its 9th Title, the Mexican Federal Labor Law (LFT) establishes that “employers must prevent workplace hazards; accidents and diseases must be investigated and recorded,” and that the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare is entitled to issue regulations and standards detailing how to do so. In other words, the LFT compels employers to take preventive measures and investigate the causes of accidents to prevent their recurrence.
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The Federal Regulations on Occupational Safety and Health (RFSST) indicate the provisions stated by the LFT. Articles 102 through 105 state that “the employer must investigate each workplace accident or disease, identify the root causes, adopt preventive and corrective measures, keep records of the results, and notify the relevant cases to the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS).”
Investigating accidents and diseases consists of objectively evaluating all the facts, opinions, and statements related to the accident or disease and based on this evaluation, developing an action plan to solve the problem that gave rise to the deficiency.
The main benefits we can obtain are the following:
- Identify the root causes. This allows you to understand why an accident or disease occurred (unsafe conditions, unsafe acts, system failures, deficiencies in training or procedures) and not only focusing on the immediate cause.
- Prevent recurrence. By understanding the causes, corrective and preventive actions can be implemented, preventing future occurrences and reducing risks to workers.
- Promoting a culture of safety and health. This demonstrates that the company values safety and is concerned about its workers, which motivates staff to report incidents and hazardous conditions, thus strengthening a culture for prevention.
- Reducing economic and human costs. Accidents and diseases generate expenses for medical care, compensations, repairs, loss of productivity, and reputational damage. Preventing them costs less than a further reaction.
- Complying with legislation. Labor and safety laws require the investigation of accidents and occupational diseases to determine causes, liabilities, and corrective measures.
- Improving management systems. Results of the investigation provide valuable information to evaluate the effectiveness of the safety and health management system in the workplace, by identifying weaknesses.
- Strengthening internal communication. Analyzing and disseminating the discoveries helps all employees to learn from experience and understand how important it is to follow protocols.
- Generating data for continuous improvement. The statistics obtained from investigations are used to analyzed trends, establish performance indicators, and define more effective prevention strategies.
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Having a Safety and Hygiene Committee (SHC), made up of staff from various areas within the company, helps establishing better control measures, as well as the timely identification of risk conditions, preventing harm to workers. Currently, farming companies have competent SHCs, which are responsible for investigating incidents and are frequently audited by the VFM team.
In summary, the investigation of workplace accidents and occupational diseases is a key tool for learning, prevention, and improvement. Its purpose is not to find fault, but to learn from the facts to prevent their recurrence and promote communication and safe and healthy working environments.
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