What is "Incident Investigation" primarily aimed at?

Incident investigation is primarily aimed at determining the root causes of incidents. This process is crucial in the field of process safety management because understanding what led to an incident enables organizations to identify weaknesses in their systems, processes, or behaviors. By determining the root causes, safety professionals can develop and implement corrective actions to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.

Effective incident investigation goes beyond simply addressing immediate issues and encourages a culture of continuous improvement. It provides valuable insights not only into what went wrong but also what safeguards may need to be enhanced or developed. This proactive strategy aims to strengthen overall safety performance, thereby protecting employees, the environment, and organizational assets.

Other options focus on aspects that are not the primary goal of incident investigation. While documenting production rates, evaluating financial impact, and minimizing regulatory compliance costs are all important for business operations, they do not directly address the critical need to understand and rectify the underlying causes of safety incidents. Therefore, focusing on root cause analysis ensures that the organization learns from incidents and improves its safety management practices over time.