Gathering and preserving information during an investigation is critical to finding the cause or causes of _____

• A. An Incident
• B. A Near Miss
• C. An Accident
• D. A Hazard

Answer: (A)

Gathering and preserving information during an investigation is essential because it enables you to reconstruct what happened and why. By collecting evidence about what occurred, who was involved, when and where it happened, and the conditions surrounding the event, you build a clear sequence of events and identify factors that contributed to it. This information allows investigators to uncover the cause or causes of the incident, so corrective actions can be taken to prevent recurrence. Near misses are part of the learning process, but the focus remains on understanding the incident itself and the factors that led to it, rather than on a hazard alone, which is a potential problem rather than the event that occurred.