7 Incident Management Problems and How to Beat Them
“Snowball effect” is a common enough saying, but it’s always surprising how quickly seemingly small issues can escalate into major incidents. In high-risk industries, one wrong move can lead to dire consequences—explosions, fires, toxic chemical spills, injuries, and even deaths. When the stakes are so high, incident management is no small task.
So, let’s break down the biggest challenges you might face and share the tools and strategies you’ll need to tackle them effectively.
1. Inaccurate and incomplete data
Challenge
When incidents happen, details can easily get muddled. Without a template, you might record what happened inaccurately or miss important information out entirely. One person might provide a full account, while another rushes through with minimal details. Plus, one person’s “breakdown” might be another’s “malfunction”. All this leads to gaps and inconsistencies that can make it hard to spot trends and address the root cause.
Solution
With EHSQ software you can make sure that the same details are collected with every incident report. TenForce even makes sure that reports can’t be submitted until essential fields are filled in. This way, you always have a complete and accurate record, making it easier to find the root cause and spot trends over time.
2. Delayed reporting
Challenge
When a major incident happens, reporting might be the last thing on your mind. You’re more focused on stopping that fire from spreading to flammable gases. On the flip side, for a minor issue, reporting might not seem worth reporting at all. Reporting a small injury can easily wait until the end of your shift, in 7 hours’ time, right?
But when incidents go unreported or are reported late, it’s hard to respond quickly or figure out what went wrong. This can slow down the investigation and even allow the incident to escalate in the meantime.
Solution
Set up a clear, easy-to-follow procedure to report incidents immediately. With TenForce, you can report an incident in just a few clicks. From there, automated alerts ensure the right people are notified promptly, allowing for a quick response.
3. Lack of emergency response plans
Challenge
When there’s no clear emergency response plan, incidents can escalate fast. If a fire breaks out and people aren’t sure what to do, it could spread uncontrollably, potentially igniting flammable materials, leading to massive property damage and endangering lives. The lack of a clear, practiced emergency response quickly can turn a manageable situation into a full-blown crisis.
Solution
Create clear emergency response plans that outline exactly who to contact and what steps to take during incidents. Make sure everyone on your team knows these plans inside out and run regular drills so everyone has practiced what to do in an emergency.
4. Insufficient training
Challenge
Even with the best systems and protocols in place you’ll run into trouble if your workers aren’t properly trained. They need to know how to spot, report, and handle incidents. Without the right training, they might miss signs of equipment malfunction, mishandle hazardous materials, or ignore safety protocols. This can lead to serious problems like more accidents, production downtime, and even legal issues.
Solution
Make sure everyone’s comfortable with spotting, reporting, and handling incidents by offering regular training sessions. It’s important that your team knows their roles in an emergency and feels prepared to handle any situation. Regular safety drills can boost their confidence and readiness when it matters most.
5. Information overload
Challenge
Trying to manage and analyze mountains of data with outdated or paper-based systems can be an impossible task. Incidents often follow patterns, but when your data is scattered across spreadsheets, binders, or disjointed systems, it’s easy to miss the warning signs. This can lead to recurring issues, like repeated equipment failures that could’ve been avoided with proper pattern recognition.
Solution
Use digital tools with customizable dashboards to quickly visualize and filter your data. These tools help you efficiently manage and analyze vast amounts of information, so you can easily connect the dots, spot trends, and prevent problems before they happen again.
6. Poor root cause analysis
Challenge
Pinpointing the true root cause of an incident can be tricky, especially when multiple factors are involved. It’s easy to mistakenly blame a machine malfunction on operator error if you don’t dig deep enough. But if you misdiagnose the root cause, you’re likely to end up with ineffective solutions and recurring issues.
Solution
With a digital tool, you can conduct thorough investigations to uncover all contributing factors and take the right steps to prevent future incidents. An integrated, logical workflow—from incident management to corrective and preventive actions (CAPAs)—lets you track every step with ease. Plus, with automated notifications, you make sure nothing slips through the cracks and CAPAs are completed on time.
7. Failing to identify potential risks
Challenge
When you skip regular risk assessments or overlook risks, you’re leaving your facility open to potential incidents. Without a set schedule or a standardized checklist for audits and risk assessments, it’s easy for important details to slip through the cracks. And without an integrated system that connects risk assessments to CAPAs, escalating and addressing issues becomes a manual process—leading to delays and mistakes. This disconnect means that even if you spot a problem, it might not get properly addressed, putting your facility at risk.
Solution
With an EHSQ platform, risk assessment becomes a built-in part of your daily processes, from audits to permit-to-work. You’ll be able to assess risks before starting tasks and evaluate any issues that come up along the way, giving you the insights you need to make improvements. This way, you can catch problems early, take action, and keep your facility safe. Plus, with everything integrated, you can trust that nothing will slip through the cracks.
Until all risk is eliminated from life, incidents can happen. But with the right protocols and tools, you can minimize their impact. Better than that—you can turn them into learning opportunities. With EHSQ software, nothing slips through the cracks. Automated workflows carry key findings from your incidents directly into corrective and preventive actions, tracking them to completion and notifying the right people at each stage. This is how you close the loop and make future incidents less likely.
Want to learn more about how to build a strong incident management program? Check out our recent blog post:
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