ABSTRACT
This chapter takes the need for an industrial organisation to report and investigate incidents as the starting point. It addresses the needs of other types of organisations conducting incident investigations such as the authorities, insurance companies, and public parties. The chapter focuses on incidents resulting in, or with the potential of resulting in, injury or death to person. It also elaborates on the reporting of unwanted occurrences - a concept that includes near accidents as well as unsafe acts and conditions. Safety management and organisation review technique (SMORT) has primarily been designed for use in the investigation of severe accidents and near accidents. The SMORT checklists and questionnaires are open-ended and have the limited purpose of focusing an investigation team's attention on various problem areas. SMORT provides a systematic and stepwise means of unfolding all relevant causal factors by starting with the specific and proceeding through the various managerial levels of the organisation.
