When an incident occurs, you must conduct a preliminary investigation to identify any unsafe conditions, acts, or procedures-as much as possible-to identify and manage hazards in the workplace. This helps ensure that work can be done safely during the interim period between the incident and the conclusion of the full investigation.

When the preliminary investigation is complete, open the EIIR template and enter the incident details in sections 1 to 14. Save the file as a Microsoft Word or PDF file, indicating the date of the incident, the injured worker's name, and the type of report (preliminary investigation). Complete this report within 48 hours.

Preliminary investigation reports must be initiated immediately and must contain all information specified by policy. Don't submit your preliminary investigation report to WorkSafeBC unless you have been directed to do so by an officer.

NOTE:

The information you provide in sections 1 to 14 is sufficient to satisfy your legal obligation to prepare both a preliminary incident aaction report. You must provide these reports to your joint occupational health and safety committee (or worker health and safety representative, if applicable). If there is no joint committee or worker representative, the reports must be posted in the workplace. Don't send these reports to WorkSafeBC unless an officer asks for them.