The Oxford dictionary defines proactive as creating or controlling a situation rather than just responding to it after it has happened.

So you know what we are talking about!

Proactive incident management is about rooting out surprise incidents and creating a strategy and establishing a system for solving and preventing problems. It’s also helpful in developing a foolproof safety strategy.

We will help you take safety measures to establish proactive incident management rather than reactive. These proactive measures develop a safe environment so that incidents do not happen.

Let us take a quick dive into what can be done to prevent incidents.

The Incident Management System

An Incident Management System is required to plan actions if incidents occur during the ordinary course of action. It alerts the concerned people, identifies reasons for its happening and suggests a practical action method.

But if this incident management system supports proactiveness, it means identifying the potential risks beforehand and being able to apply preventive measures. 

Here is a simple example:-

Reactive Approach: A person trips over a wire in a dim-lighted area. So the person highlights the issue by clicking the picture of the wire and raising concern over the dim light. They probably must have just bruised themselves, but it could have led to a worse situation.

Proactive Approach: A safety manager surveys the area and notices the wire in the path and the dim lights. They immediately raise concerns, work on fixing it and the issue is solved. 

This example is as easy as ABC. 

But incidents can range in magnitude & intensity. Therefore, despite having an incident management system in place, we need to take measures to make it proactive.

Proactive Incident Management System

Organisations of the world are constantly working toward the ‘Zero-incident’ goal. For pursuing this goal, a proactive Incident Management system can have a significant impact. 

A proactive incident management system will help you to identify hazard, potential risk & provide CAPAs thereby mitigating the risk. 

A proactive approach includes;

• Proper planning and execution of daily tasks.
• Maintaining an alert tracking system to notify in real-time.
• Providing training through role-play and tabletop exercises.
• Having a quick response team in place.

These approaches minimize inefficiencies and leverage safety in daily tasks as having each process clearly identified & transparent. These steps also help identify the hotspots early and mitigate or eliminate the chances of accidents. 

Incident management software enables the staff to sift through the noise of paperwork and connect them more crucially with their tasks. Additionally, it helps them stay calm and not panic if any incidents occur. 

A proactive incident management system not only answers questions of who, why, where, when, and how but also changes how businesses prepare for and respond to incidents. The software also understands trends and patterns of past incidents to ensure proper actions are taken not to repeat them.

How a Proactive Approach Helps

Identifying risks, loopholes, trends, errors, and problem areas at an early stage improves the overall process and eradicates them before they get too big to solve. This significantly reduces the number of critical incidents and alerts employees to be cautious about daily activities.

Here are five steps that prove the incident management system has a proactive approach.

Identify/Investigate

When employees have access to identify and report incidents on a centralised platform, it helps to gain visibility of all the happenings. Thus, timely actions are taken, and the incidents are prevented.

Assess

A risk assessment of the reported incident (whether it occurred or was prevented) must be done. The incident management software runs a risk assessment to score the event and gives detailed information. This analytics is used to avoid repetition and make the processes more consistent.

Take Appropriate Decisions

Once the incident management system highlights an incident, the decision makers must make appropriate decisions on the event. This timely action may include further training, reports, and corrective action plans. It also helps to be compliant and reduce fines caused due to incidents.

Notify

Proper notification of work procedures is essential for good work processes. An incident management system alerts the worker immediately if they are deviating from normal operations. Also, these systems are trained to create a checklist for the workers to educate them properly about the tasks they will perform. Thus, notifications are essential in transferring the correct information at the right time.

Analyse

The centralised platform and trends help to analyse the problem and acknowledge the reasons appropriately. It allows teams to design long-term and short-term action plans and dedicate the teams accordingly. For example, if there are a high number of incidents in a particular area, extra attention can be paid to training efforts to eliminate the cause of incidents. 

These five steps primarily help prepare for every day and sudden incidents that are likely to happen. 

Conclusion

With a proactive incident management system, organisations can :-

• Prevent/simplify incident escalations.
• Quickly send related alerts and notifications.
• Monitor trends and help create action plans.
• Keep the stakeholders alert & informed at all stages of an incident.
• Maintain communication across multiple platforms.
• Prioritise ongoing compliance
• Examine all the potential hazards
• Leverage new technologies

A proactive approach in workplaces helps to promote a growth mindset. It allows people to communicate fearlessly, thus preventing accidents right from the beginning. It also encourages an open culture and improves processes, products, and services while amplifying safety.