BEST PRACTICES BEFORE AND AFTER SERIOUS AND FATAL ACCIDENTS
PRE-ACCIDENT
- Philosophy for safety. “Top Down”
- Policy for training in regards to safety.
- Policy on what your company and employees are to do in the event of an accident, whether it is minor, serious, or fatal.
- Talk about the policy before any accident. “Not just put it in a manual.”
- What are the goals?
- Policy regarding when to call OSHA.
- Policy regarding what to do with any press/news media requests post-accident.
- Identify the right attorney to retain for the accident investigation.
POST-ACCIDENT
- Attorney-client privilege.
- Hire the right attorney to protect your investigation from getting into the hands of your opponents.
- Why it cannot be done on every case becomes pretextual.
- Collect important evidence immediately.
- Take videos and/or photos of everything.
- What is considered important evidence?
- Obtain written witness statements.
- Scan area for witnesses. They may not be your employees.
- To retain attorney-client privilege statements should be taken by your attorney.
- Litigation Hold Letters. Attorney should be the one to do these.
- When are litigation holds necessary?
- If another party has evidence that will be important to you and your company, a litigation hold letter must be sent out.
- The letter should notify the other party that they have evidence that must be retained and not altered in any way.
- Litigation holds should also be used for any evidence in your company’s possession.
- A few examples of evidence include: digital data, vehicles, tools, repair records, reports, photos, and videos.