Safety incident management that finds serious-injury and fatality potential the hour a report is filed
High-potential incidents found the hour they are reported, not at the monthly review.
See one case, screen by screen ↓Incidents reach HSE as a crew lead’s phone form, a call to the duty manager or an email from a contractor. Each one has to be classified — how bad it was (first aid, recordable, lost time), how bad it could have been, and whether a reporting clock has started — and then the right investigation has to be opened and staffed. Today the crew lead’s word usually decides the first two. Nobody reads the work order that says the line was live, or the statement that says the glove was off, and the potential is judged weeks later at a monthly review, if at all.
The same case is classed differently by region, investigator and contractor. The 8-hour and 24-hour severe-injury reports and the 7-day log entry under 29 CFR 1904 run from when the employer learns of the case, and they are tracked in inboxes. When a full investigation does start, the investigator spends the first day collecting the work order, the tailboard, the photos, the control-room log and the training record.
Estimated split for one serious-potential incident, in calendar days, by hand and with the solution.
Six specialist agents read every report and its records, classify it on energy and controls, and open the investigation; the HSE manager signs.
On Tue 13 Oct 2026, Crew 14 from Ashgrove depot is changing a cracked phase B insulator on pole AG-41207, Weller Road, energized at 12.47 kV. At 07:48 a wrench slips and apprentice lineworker Tomás Reyes cuts his left palm on the cross-arm bracket. Here is what happens next, screen by screen, in the working solution at the fictional Lumina Utilities.
Darnell files from his phone after the clinic visit: four stitches, light duties, back tomorrow. The incident file shows the severity strip with only one bar filled — Reported: First aid — and Actual and Potential “not classified yet”. The timeline holds 7 events, from his report, the tailboard and the clinic note.
“Minor — back on light duties tomorrow.” · Investigation: none yet
Megan opens INC-2026-0418 and presses Classify. Four agents work one step at a time, every phrase they use kept: the 74-word report, work order WO-2026-88213, the tailboard and two crew statements, then 3 photos, the boom log and the control-room log. Photo P-3 at 07:41 shows cover-up on A and C, none on B; the bucket moved at 07:44; the feeder was live throughout.
Energy check: “Electrical, 7,200 V — above the 50 V line: high energy present”
The report as written stays exactly as Darnell wrote it. Five phrases are highlighted and explained: “took his left glove off” — no direct control; “the B phase was still live” — 7,200 V to ground, above the 50 V line; “a foot and a half from it” — about 18 in, inside the 25 in minimum approach distance; “4 stitches” — medical treatment beyond first aid; and “Minor”, kept as reported.
“Minor” — “Kept as reported. Actual and potential are decided separately, with the evidence.”
Actual moves to Recordable; Potential to Fatal, classed SIF exposure: high energy, no direct control. The rule “potential SIF → full investigation” opens INV-2026-0063 with Lina Farouk as lead — not on Crew 14 — preliminary findings Fri 16 Oct 07:48 and the final report Thu 12 Nov. The body map draws the path the current could have taken, hand to hand across the chest. Grace Whitlow and the VP Network Operations are alerted within the 2-hour rule.
“Raised from first aid, nothing lowered” · 9 steps · 7 records read
The investigation is worked in order; a later step unlocks only when the earlier one is done. The agents drafted 12 events from the report, the boom log, the photos and three statements: non-reclose set on AG-12 at 07:22, bucket up at 31 ft at 07:31, the bucket moved 2.1 ft east at 07:44 to reach the seized bracket bolt, the glove off at 07:46. Megan confirms each event or opens its source.
Records · 9 — from the crew lead’s report to 3 earlier glove-off cases found by the similar-case finder
Electrical, 7,200 V on phase B: rubber gloves and sleeves — no, left glove off at 07:46; cover-up on every phase in reach — no, B bare after the bucket moved; minimum approach distance, 25 in — no, about 18 in. Gravity, bucket at 31 ft: a fall-arrest lanyard to the boom — yes. Each answer carries its evidence numbers.
“SIF exposure confirmed. The cut was the smallest thing that could have happened.”
Why take the glove off? The 9/16 in nut would not turn in rubber gloves, and truck 14-207 carries no insulated ratchet. Why no re-cover when the bucket moved? The live-line JHA sets “every phase in reach” once, at the tailboard. Why no insulated tool? Live-line kit lists do not include one, and three earlier glove-off cases had the same cause. Qualification is ruled out: Tomás has been rubber-glove qualified since 14 Aug 2025.
Root causes: “No re-cover and re-brief when the bucket moves; no insulated tool for seized hardware on the trucks.”
CA-1: an insulated ratchet and socket set on all 38 bucket trucks — Ken Adeyemi, Fleet, Nov 30, approved. CA-2: “bucket moved = re-cover and re-brief” added to the live-line JHA — Rosa Lindqvist, Standards, Nov 13. CA-3: glove off = stop the job, restated to every Northern Network crew — Megan Castillo, Oct 20. A fourth action, checking every live-line kit list for insulated tools, is added on request.
“Engineering first: remove the reason to take a glove off, before telling people not to.”
One page: the classification, the root causes, four corrective actions with owners and dates, and what is still to come — Tomás Reyes’s statement on Wed 14 Oct and the electrical test of his left glove. Owen signs, and the signature is recorded with its words and the time.
“Preliminary findings approved; actions CA-1 to CA-4 start now.”
The learning writer drafts an interim safety alert — “Glove off near a live phase” — for all 40 Northern Network crews and 12 live-line contractors, sent once the findings are signed. What happened, what we found and what to do now, in plain words: if a job needs a glove off, stop the job; when the bucket moves, re-cover and re-brief; insulated ratchet sets are on their way to every bucket truck by Nov 30.
Never names the injured person in a shared alert; never sends without sign-off.
The same cut hand, seen by the five people who own it — what their week looked like, and what it looks like now.
Six specialist agents read every report and its records, classify it on energy and controls, and open the investigation; the HSE manager signs.
Reads the report, photos and witness statements and pulls who, where, the task, the energy and the controls — quoting the exact phrase for every fact.
Decides actual severity from the injury and the care given, and potential severity with the energy-based test: was high energy present, and was a direct control in place. High energy without a direct control is SIF exposure, whatever the outcome.
Decides recordable and reportable under 29 CFR 1904, starts the 8-hour, 24-hour and 7-day clocks and drafts the log entry.
Opens the investigation the rules require, picks a lead qualified for the task and not on the involved crew, gathers the work order, tailboard, photos, control-room and vehicle logs, training records and statements, and builds the nine steps with their due dates.
Searches five years of incidents for the same task, energy source and failed control, scores each match and says why it matches.
Drafts the 5-why from the confirmed timeline and the energy-and-controls table, proposes corrective actions that remove the energy or add a direct control before training, and writes a one-page safety alert in plain words.
Adviser works the steps; manager signs. The agents propose; a named person decides.
Ask in plain words — or say what to change. Every answer points to the records behind it.
Why is INC-2026-0418 high potential?
Because the hand was near a live 7,200 V phase with no direct control. The work order puts it on energized feeder AG-12; the crew lead wrote that the left glove was off and the hand about a foot and a half from B phase; photo P-3 shows no cover-up on B. 18 inches is inside the 25-inch minimum approach distance. The cut was minor; what could have happened was fatal, so a full investigation opened.
Have we had glove-off cases on live lines before?
Three in the last 18 months, all in the north: INC-2025-0611, INC-2026-0102 and INC-2026-0277 — each time a tool would not work in rubber gloves. Darnell Price says truck 14-207 carries no insulated ratchet. The three cases are linked to the root causes of INV-2026-0063.
Add an action to check every live-line kit for insulated tools
Added CA-4: check every live-line kit list for insulated ratchets and sockets, owner Fleet (Ken Adeyemi), due Nov 6, linked to the glove-off cases. It sits with CA-1, which buys the ratchet sets for all 38 bucket trucks.
Which reporting clocks run out this week?
Four run out by Friday: INC-2026-0409 log entry tonight at 23:59, with the draft waiting for Owen Achterberg; INC-2026-0418, the 24-hour admission watch, Wed 07:48 — not admitted; INC-2026-0415 log entry, Fri 06:10; and INV-2026-0063 preliminary findings, Fri 07:48.
13 screens from the working solution, on its sample data. Pick one to see it large.
What counts as high energy, which incidents open which investigation, the clocks and the approvers are settings, chosen by the utility.
| Setting | Default | Choose from |
|---|---|---|
| High energy — electrical | 50 V, or any arc-flash exposure | Thresholds also set for gravity (4 ft, or 500 ft-lb), motion (500 ft-lb), excavation (5 ft), confined space (19.5% oxygen), stored pressure (15 psi) and chemical releases |
| Potential serious injury or fatality → full investigation | On | On · Off — opened the moment the classification is made, with a lead from outside the crew |
| High energy, control held → learning review | On | On · Off — three steps: what held, why, and who else should know |
| Raise a severity above what was reported | Raise, and tell the reporter | Raise, and tell the reporter · Propose only — lowering always needs an HSE adviser |
| Executive alert on a potential SIF | Within 2 hours | Within 1 hour · Within 2 hours · Within 4 hours — to the Director of HSE and the VP of the region |
| Preliminary findings | 72 hours | 48 hours · 72 hours · 5 days, counted from the time of the incident |
| Final investigation report | 30 days | 30 days · 45 days · 60 days — extensions need the Director of HSE |
| Classification sign-off and severe-injury reports | Owen Achterberg | Owen Achterberg · Grace Whitlow — the agents draft; this person submits |
Every figure is labelled: a target the solution is built to, an estimate, a typical published result, or a proven one.
“demo” = seen in the working solution, on its sample utility data · “target” = the design goal, measured in the live solution · “estimated” = our estimate · “typical” = published figures (DEKRA study of 1,060 recordable incidents across 11 utilities: 32 % SIF exposure, water 42 %; energy-based Safety Classification and Learning model: agreement among experienced safety professionals 65 % → 95 %). Regulatory context: 29 CFR 1904.39 (8 h / 24 h), 1904.29 (7 days), 1910.269 (minimum approach distance). Lumina Utilities, the people, crews, contractors, places and records named on this page are fictional — characters and sample data in the working solution.
Software that takes a safety incident from the first report to a classified record, its reporting clocks and an investigation with root causes, corrective actions and a shared lesson. Safety Incident Management adds six agents that read the report and its records, judge actual and potential severity, start the clocks and open the investigation; the HSE adviser works the steps and the HSE manager signs.
The severity classifier uses an energy-based test: was high energy present, above the thresholds in Settings, and was a direct control in place. High energy without a direct control is SIF exposure, whatever the outcome. In the sample case a cut needing four sutures was classed recordable, with a potential of fatal, because the hand was about 18 inches from a live 7,200 V phase with the glove off and no cover-up.
Yes. It reads the records utility crews already produce — work orders, tailboards and job hazard analyses, control-room logs, boom telematics, permits — and its thresholds cover electrical contact and arc flash, falls, excavation, confined spaces, stored pressure and chlorine or hypochlorite releases. The sample utility runs Northern and Southern Networks and Water Operations, with employees and contractors.
The recordability checker decides recordable and reportable under 29 CFR 1904 from the care given, starts the 8-hour, 24-hour and 7-day clocks, keeps watching for a hospital admission for 24 hours and drafts the log entry. It never files with a regulator: the HSE manager submits.
The similar-case finder searches five years of incidents for the same task, energy and failed control. In the sample case it found three earlier glove-off cases, each where a tool would not work in rubber gloves, so the corrective actions put insulated ratchets on all 38 bucket trucks rather than only restating the rule.
Yes. The agents read, classify, raise and draft — they never lower a severity on their own, sign or file. Lowering needs an HSE adviser, the HSE manager signs the classification and the investigation, the lead is never from the injured person’s crew, and every step is on the audit trail with the name and the time.
Yes. The high-energy thresholds, which incidents open a full investigation, standard investigation or learning review, whether agents raise a severity or only propose it, the executive alert, preliminary and final report clocks, the admission watch and the approvers are all settings.
The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements and documents — your incident procedure, safety rules, investigation template and a sample of past incidents — and it goes live once every quality gate has passed. We will walk you through it on your own incidents first.
Every high-energy job checked for its critical controls before the crew leaves the yard.
1-min demoElectronic Permit to WorkNo permit goes live over a held or missing isolation, and every signature is on record.
1-min demoNear Miss ReportingRising near-miss trends caught by site and work type, weeks before someone is hurt.
1-min demoWe’ll run Safety Incident Management on a sample of your own closed incidents.