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The best time to prepare your organisation to investigate incidents is before they happen

Readiness to Investigate

As well as hurting people and damaging assets, incidents and accidents disrupt business continuity and upset relationships between stakeholders. To really learn from incidents, an investigating organisation needs to be ready to go as soon as they hear that something has happened. That means having ready access to the data, the willing participation of all parties and the capability to collect data, analyse and reach conclusions.


In 2005, working with the Royal Society for the prevention of accidents, we talked to professional investigators and businesses about how they achieve and maintain readiness to investigate. We published what we learned in a white paper: Defining Readiness to Investigate (DORI). The motivations and methods of the DORI project are summarised in paper presented at ESReDA seminar held at the Joint Research Centre in Ispra in November 2007.


Johnson’s 1985 “Accident Investigation Manual” also provides advice on readiness to investigate.