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The investigation of a commercial motor vehicle accidents in Canada allows the motor carrier to determine the root cause and implement corrective actions to mitigate risks and improve public safety.
Motor carriers must investigate all workplace accidents, including motor vehicle incidents, whether on or off public property.
Because of the dangerous and highly regulated nature of the motor carrier industry, one of a carrier’s highest concerns is the safety of its employees and the general public through the prevention of accidents. However, regardless of how good a carrier’s safety and accident prevention programs are, as long as there are cars, trucks, and buses on the nation’s highways, accidents involving all three can and do happen.
When an accident does happen, it is in the motor carrier’s best interest (from a liability and best-practice standpoint) to discover exactly what happened and why. This process of discovery is more commonly known as an accident investigation. Each motor carrier needs to have an effective accident investigation process as part of its comprehensive safety program, even if that process involves hiring a professional accident investigator.
A thorough accident investigation will:
Most commercial motor vehicle accidents result from a breakdown in the motor carrier’s safety management controls, which are the company's internal processes and procedures used to ensure compliance and safety. For example, a breakdown in those controls could result in the use of an unqualified or untrained driver or unsafe equipment. A good accident investigation process identifies and analyzes these breakdowns, then recommends corrective actions to prevent similar types of accidents from reoccurring.