ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses ways to analyze an accident reporting system. In a reporting system there is usually an end product that is regularly sent to management. This end product is called by many names, but it is a summary of accident events that happened during a specified time period. The reason for the summary reports and the way in which they are viewed by management will provide channels of inquiry into the rest of the system. Evaluating how cost data are used in the current reports is another part of the examination of the reporting system. The chapter looks at the source events that provide the basis for the reports. Closely tied to the question of the types of events that are investigated is an inquiry into the history of the current system. How and why the current reporting system was developed have direct bearing on what is now investigated, as well as what investigation forms are currently in use.
