Things Disappear
Items such as evidence and memories naturally evolve over time and may even fade away following accidents.
Material Evidence
Material evidence encompasses anything that could be significant in determining what transpired.
Somehow, tools, equipment, and other items have a tendency to shift. Employers are often eager to 'clean up' the accident scene to resume work. Therefore, it's crucial to establish a procedure to safeguard material evidence from being relocated or vanishing.
If evidence goes missing, you can understand why it might become challenging to uncover the surface causes of the accident. Without identifying the surface causes, discovering and addressing the root causes will become nearly impossible. We'll delve deeper into surface and root causes later in the course.
Memory
Accidents are traumatic events that lead to both physical and psychological trauma. Physical trauma may affect the victim and others involved to varying degrees. Similarly, the extent of psychological trauma depends on an individual's proximity to the accident or the victim. In one way or another, everyone is impacted.
As time passes after an accident, people's recollections of what they saw and heard can become distorted by their thoughts and emotions. Interactions with others can also contribute to this distortion of reality. Over time, the memories of everyone connected to the accident are likely to undergo some alterations. Considering this, it's crucial to obtain written statements and conduct interviews as soon as possible.
Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.
2-3. What happens to a person's recollections as the length of time after an accident increases?
You forgot to answer the question!