Crucial to the success of finding the underlying causes of an accident is the full cooperation of witnesses or those involved in the accident. The people you are interviewing may be afraid that you will blame them and react defensively. It is important to make sure they understand that you are simply trying to find the factors that led to the accident.
Here is a five-step approach that can help you gain rapport with the interviewee while gleaning important facts about the incident:
1. Discuss the purpose of the interview right away.
2. Visit the scene and listen carefully to the various accounts of the incident.
3. Fill in gaps of information—the real causes may lie there.
4. Repeat the information back to each witness to make sure you have understood them.
5. Ask the people involved what they would recommend to avoid a similar accident in the future.