For HSE officers, supervisors and fresh graduates who want to be trusted when it matters most
The One HSE Skill That Puts You in the Room When the MD Wants Answers
Learn to lead an accident investigation from the first phone call to a report that holds up in front of management, the union and the regulator. Then become the person they call next time.
I Want to Be That PersonEnrol for ₦100,000Toolbox talks. PPE checks. Permit audits. Monthly reports that nobody reads past the first page.
Management nods, signs and moves on.
Then something goes wrong.
A fire at the gantry. A tanker rollover. A worker injured on a night shift.
Suddenly the whole building is asking one question:
That’s the moment careers are made.
In that room, the MD, the operations manager, the legal adviser and sometimes the regulator are all looking for someone who can answer that question with evidence, calmly and fairly.
The person who can do it gets trusted, and the next time something goes wrong, they’re the first one called. Sometimes they’re the next one promoted.
The person who can’t do it watches someone else take the seat.
Why most HSE officers never get that seat
It isn’t a lack of intelligence or commitment. It’s that nobody ever trained them to lead an investigation.
So when the call comes, this is what happens:
The scene is cleaned before anyone photographs it.
The most important evidence is gone in the first hour, and nobody said which evidence was volatile.
Interviews become interrogations.
Witnesses protect themselves, and the investigator leaves with statements that say nothing.
The report says “human error”.
It recommends retraining the operator. The MD reads it and knows it doesn’t answer the question. The real causes, such as a bypassed interlock, a crew on a 14-hour shift or a gate log nobody checked, are still there.
That report doesn’t build trust. It quietly costs it.
It’s not your fault.
Most incident investigation training is a one-day slideshow on fishbone diagrams, or a classroom course your company won’t approve. Neither puts you on site at 7am with a real decision to make.
So I built a course that makes you the lead investigator.
You’re in charge of one investigation, the Delta Flow Terminal fire, from the first thirty minutes on site to the final report and the leadership briefing.
At 06:58 on a Tuesday, fire breaks out at the Bay 3 loading gantry.
A head office delegation arrives at 10:45. A vacuum truck is on its way to clear the scene. The union has complained in writing. The legal adviser is nervous.
The evidence includes a loading arm, an interlock, an overtime roster, a gate log, CCTV footage, and witnesses who remember events differently.
And the MD wants answers.
You make every call. Then you check your decisions against a model answer.
By the end, you’ll be the person who can answer the question.
Using the 6-Step Investigation Path, a method you can take onto any site with printable pocket cards, you’ll be able to:
- Take control of the first hour: secure volatile evidence, make the right notifications and decide how deep to go
- Build the team and write a plan that holds when the pressure from above starts
- Control a scene: photograph, sketch and measure it, and collect physical and digital evidence
- Read documents critically and spot when a blank entry is the evidence
- Run fair witness interviews using the PEACE model, including the difficult ones
- Rebuild the event with a timeline and resolve conflicting accounts
- Find the immediate, underlying and root causes with barrier analysis, the Five Whys and the substitute test, so you find causes, not culprits
- Write SMART corrective actions with interim controls, restart criteria and a check that they worked
- Write a fair, defensible report and executive summary, and brief leadership with confidence
That last skill is the one that puts you in the room.
What you get
Short video lessons, most under five minutes, so you can learn between shifts.
Case releases from the Delta Flow Terminal investigation, arriving in the order evidence would on a real site.
Hands-on Case Work tasks, each with a self-check, a model answer and a self-marking guide.
Branching scenarios: the first hour after an LPG release at Onne, and a difficult witness interview.
Your Investigation Toolkit: a workbook, four Word templates and printable pocket cards.
“Watch it done” lessons: two interviews with the same witness, building the timeline, and the full cause analysis.
Optional case studies drawn from US Chemical Safety Board investigations, including BP Texas City and the ITC terminal fire.
Capstone investigation package marked by me personally: pass at 70, distinction at 85.
A certificate of completion that anyone can verify online.
Step out of the background.
Most young HSE officers spend their first years in the background, filling forms and chasing PPE.
The fastest way out of the background is to be useful when it matters. A graduate who can say:
“I can help lead this investigation, and here’s an investigation package I’ve already completed.”
stands out from the first week.
Your capstone becomes a portfolio piece you can take into interviews and show.
Be ready for the next one.
You’ve probably sat in that room before, or watched someone else sit in it.
Keep the pocket cards in your car. Use the evidence register and report templates on your next investigation.
Walk into the leadership briefing with an executive summary that answers the MD’s question before he asks it.
Make your investigations hold up.
Supervisors, engineers and operations managers investigate incidents in their own areas all the time, usually without any training.
This course gives you the same method your HSE team should be using.
I’m Ola Akanji. I have more than 17 years of hands-on HSE experience across oil and gas, manufacturing and environmental operations.
I’ve managed HSE at terminals, LPG plants, aviation depots, lube plants, jetties and hundreds of retail sites.
I hold NEBOSH International General and Oil and Gas certificates, I’m a certified PMP, and I’m a Lead Auditor for ISO 9001, 14001 and 45001.
Let’s talk about money.
A two-day incident investigation course in Lagos costs about ₦195,000 online or ₦220,000 in the classroom. International safety investigation courses start at $2,595, which is more than ₦3 million.
This course is ₦100,000 for 25 hours of practice on a full investigation:
- That’s ₦4,000 per hour of training.
- Over the suggested 10 weeks, it’s ₦10,000 a week.
- You keep the toolkit, the pocket cards and your capstone investigation package.
Think of it this way: it’s the price of being ready the next time the MD asks “who can lead this?”
Tip for working professionals: employers often pay for investigation training, especially after an incident. Show this page to your HSE manager or HR, or email support@thehseexchange.com for company payment or group enrolment.
Here’s why I built this course.
I’ve seen too many capable HSE people lose credibility at the worst possible moment. They weren’t bad at their jobs; nobody had trained them for the day something goes wrong.
Investigation is a skill. It can be learned, and it can be practised before the real thing.
Here’s why this method works.
You don’t learn to lead an investigation by memorising a fishbone diagram.
You learn by standing at the scene, interviewing a reluctant witness, getting the timeline wrong and fixing it. Then you write a report for someone who wants to tear it apart and brief the people who need answers.
That’s what this course makes you do before your capstone.
- 25 hours of learning and practice, including 52 short video lessons
- Investigation Toolkit: workbook, 4 Word templates and pocket cards
- 10 Case Work tasks and 2 branching scenarios
- Capstone investigation package, marked personally by your instructor
- Verifiable certificate of completion
Questions people ask
I’ve never done an investigation. Is this for me?
Yes. You don’t need any prior investigation training. Some experience on an industrial or operational site helps, but it isn’t required.
I already use Tripod Beta, TapRooT or another method. Will this clash?
No. The 6-Step Investigation Path covers the whole investigation, from the first hour to the final report. The causal analysis tools fit inside it.
How much time do I need?
About 3 hours a week over 8 to 10 weeks. It’s self-paced.
What do I need?
Microsoft Excel and Word, or compatible software. For the capstone, you’ll submit your investigation package as one PDF.
Is this an accredited certification?
It’s a practical course with a verifiable certificate of completion. It trains you to lead the investigation, and that’s what your employer needs on the day something goes wrong.
Can my employer pay, or can I enrol a team?
Yes. Email support@thehseexchange.com with your company name and the number of seats.
P.S. The next incident won’t wait for you to be ready. When the MD asks who can lead the investigation, this course makes sure the answer is you.
Enrol in The Lead Investigator →
P.P.S. You have 7 days. Do the first task and the first module, and if it doesn’t change how you’d handle that room, ask for a refund.
Ola AkanjiThe HSE Exchange