Information needs of bereaved families following fatal work incidents

Abstract

The sudden and unexpected nature of fatal work incidents can leave family members with a strong need to know how and why the worker died. Forty Australian family members were interviewed to identify the information sought following fatal work incidents and explore the factors enhancing or impairing satisfaction with the account of the death. Findings demonstrated that employers tended to divert responsibility to the worker, to mask underlying systemic failures. Satisfaction was enhanced if family members believed a sense of justice was attained and formal investigations were able to expose the truth and those responsible for the death were identified.

Keywords:

• Fatal work incidents
• family
• traumatic bereavement
• OHS

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by a grant from the Australian Research Council [DP120103377].