3. Investigation for victims of a workplace incident
When HSE investigates a workplace incident, injury or case of ill health, we will update you at important stages of our investigation. We will contact you in the way that suits you best.
Whatever the outcome of the investigation we will clearly explain the outcome and reasons for this to you.
The timing and intervals between our contacts with you will depend on things like:
- how complex the investigation is
- how much evidence we have to gather and analyse
We will take into account your views and the impact that the incident has had on you.
We aim to tell you as much as we can, including:
- what we have done
- what we believe to be the cause
- the action we intend to take
But, there may be things that we can’t explain in detail before the investigation is completed. This is because we have to avoid prejudicing a possible prosecution.
If we ask you to provide a witness statement to help the investigation, you can bring someone with you. Ideally this should be someone not connected to the investigation. For example an actual or potential witness who we may need to interview.
Our contact with you will carry on during our investigation and enforcement action. It will stop when these processes have finished.
At the end of our investigation, we will explain to you the outcome and the reasons for this. We will do this as soon as possible after informing the dutyholder. Dutyholders are people who have responsibilities under health and safety law.
If there is going to be a prosecution, we will tell you about the next steps. This will include the date for a first hearing at the Magistrates’ Court. The hearing will be public, so you will be able to attend.