Investigations interview techniques

The following sections describe the initial site visit, evidence management, team tools and supplies, tips on photography, and witness interview techniques. Some activities may proceed simultaneously therefore, the investigation team may have to split up assignments. The team leader should make sure everyone understands their roles. 

An overview of the interviewing process is shown in Figure 8-7. The interviewing techniques discussed in the following section are generic to any interviewing activity, but have been modified to incorporate specific issues unique to incident investigation. 

By the time of the RevCon, no investigations of alleged nse (LAU) had been requested or conducted. There have been a nnmber of training exercises on lAU and delivery of assistance conducted by the OPCW and States Parties. These have highlighted the importance of hnman factors, such as interviewing techniques and the collection of evidence, and the need for appropriate equipment. As in the case of challenge inspections, the Secretariat has put in place the necessary internal procedures for an lAU to allow it to dispatch an inspection team at short notice. 

Employers must develop in-house capability to investigate incidents that occur in their facilities. A team should be assembled by the employer and trained in the techniques of investigation, including how to conduct interviews of witnesses, assemble needed documentation, and write reports. A multidisciplinary team is better able to gather the facts of the event and to analyze them and develop plausible scenarios as to what happened and why. Team members should be selected on the basis of their training, knowledge, and ability to contribute to a team effort to fully investigate the incident. 

Furthermore, the emergence of oral history as a systematic technique of historical investigation may have favoured interest in the history of contemporary chemistry. Properly handled interviews of practitioners of chemistry of the recent past can provide a rich repository of historical source material on the informal and affective aspects of doing science, which seldom enter the written record.7,8 A study of the origins of the Krebs cycle is a powerful example of the potential of oral history.9 The specialist history of chemistry centre, the Chemical Heritage Foundation in Philadelphia, has undertaken a systematic programme of chemical oral histories.10... 

Effective observation and interviewing will be adequate for the majority of investigations and, when combined with the discipline imposed by good report writing, should ensure appropriate recommendations. However, there will be certain accidents and incidents which, because of their complexity, require the use of more advanced techniques. A full description of these techiiiques is beyond the scope of this chapter but key points are as follows ... 

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