Investigator Roles

1 Objectives

This document describes the tasks of each investigator (by investigator role) involved in the DaCoTA project.

Each task can be assigned to a DaCoTA accident collection shift or a DaCoTA case life cycle.

A DaCoTA case life cycle starts with an accident notification that fulfils the sampling criteria and ends with the completion of all required entries in the DaCoTA database and publication of the case.

2 Investigator roles

Below there is a list of all investigator roles in DaCoTA. The roles will be describes further, later in this document

Team Leader
Case Leader
On-Scene Investigator
Retrospective Vehicle Investigator
Retrospective Accident Site Investigator
Interviewer
Road User Contact Questioner
DREAM Analyst
Reconstruction Analyst
Injury Mechanism Analyst

It is recommended that each team has at least two active investigators working each case, one of whom must be designated as Case Leader. Investigators can take on more than one role within a case (e.g the same person may conduct interviews, injury analysis and DREAM analysis).

There is always only one Case Leader in a DaCoTA shift and case respectively, although there might be two or more persons working together with sufficient experience to be considered for the Case Leader role.

2.1 Team Leader

The Team Leader is the overall coordinator of a local investigation team. This person is identified at the point of application to join the DaCoTA network. The Team Leader responsibilities include:

Recruitment and management of their investigation team
Ethical and data handling agreements
Nomination of Case Leaders
Securing funding for the team where necessary
Liaison with authorities, emergency services, recovery garages etc. to develop core infrastructure
Reporting on team progress including accident notifications, time to investigation, case completion and training/support needs.
Conducting case review meetings with their investigation team
Organising all necessary equipment for conducting investigations
Arranging counselling for investigators where necessary
Organising an investigation plan/schedule
Final quality control of cases and upload to the shared DaCoTA database
Reporting to DaCoTA WP2 Leader on investigation related issues

2.2 Case Leader

The DaCoTA investigation shift plan defines which person is the Case Leader on a specific shift. It is recommended that the Case Leader should be the most experienced team member on that shift. The Case Leader is in general responsible for the organization of the shift and the data collection and entry into the database for cases that are started during the shift. Before and during the shift the Case Leader has the following tasks

Assign tasks between on-scene or retrospective investigators
Check that all equipment is present and working
Check if notified cases fulfil the sampling criteria
Fill out the accident log

During a case investigation the Case Leader has the following tasks

Crisis handling, if other investigators have physical or emotional issues which affect their ability to conduct the investigation
Decision according to the sampling plan if accident data will be further collected if the accident site is already cleared up and neither police / rescue or accident participants are available
Decision when the on-scene and retrospective data collection is finished

During the case life cycle the Case Leader has the following tasks

Check the case status overview and identify issues in case completion
Decide if a retrospective accident site investigation is necessary
Liaise with all individuals contributing to the case
Invite and conduct the case analysis meeting

2.3 On-scene Investigator

It is recognised that new teams may not work on-scene during the DaCoTA pilot, but this is the recommended primary methodology.

The DaCoTA investigation shift plan defines which persons are the On-Scene Investigators on a specific shift. The On-Scene Investigators are responsible for collecting the on-scene data for a DaCoTA case. If more than one person is scheduled the task split will be defined by the Case Leader. Before and during the shift the On-Scene Investigators have the following tasks

Prepare the forms and writing materials for the shift
Check own equipment, including cameras, measuring and marking equipment

During a case investigation the On-Scene Investigators have the following tasks

Talk to police, fire brigade, witnesses and road users involved in the accident and prepare for follow up interviews
Take photos of the accident location and vehicles, identify and highlight fast changeable marks and traces
Measure all relevant parameters of the accident scene and prepare scene sketch or photogrammetry
Fill out the vehicle forms and conduct inspection of involved vehicles as per the DaCoTA training
Fill out the accident site form and prepare a hand drawing of the accident scene, check for restriction in visibility and weather conditions
Fill out the road and lane forms

After a case investigation the On-Scene Investigators share the following tasks

Check petrol and equipment in the investigation car

During the case life cycle the On-Scene Investigators have the following tasks

Complete all relevant forms and upload the data to the local database
Select on-scene photos, sanitise (blur faces, street names, logos etc) and upload the photos to the database

2.4 Retrospective Vehicle Investigator

The DaCoTA investigation shift plan defines which persons are the Retrospective Vehicle Investigators on a specific shift. Retrospective investigation is necessary if it was not possible to conduct a full investigation on-scene. The Retrospective Vehicle Investigators are responsible for collecting vehicle data after an accident involved vehicle has left the scene. If more than one person is scheduled the task split will be defined by the Vehicle Investigators themselves.

Before the investigation the Retrospective Vehicle Investigator has the following tasks

Prepare the forms and writing materials for the vehicle investigation
Check own equipment, including cameras, measuring and marking equipment

During the investigation the Retrospective Vehicle Investigators have the following tasks

Take photos of the accident involved vehicle(s)
Measure all relevant damage to the vehicle(s)
Fill out the vehicle investigation form (s)

After the investigation the Retrospective Vehicle Investigators have the following tasks

Check for petrol and equipment in the investigation car

During the case life cycle the Retrospective Vehicle Investigators have the following tasks

Complete all relevant forms and upload the data to the local database
Select vehicle photos, sanitise (blur licence plates, company names/logos) and upload the photos to the database

2.5 Retrospective Accident Site Investigator

The Case Leader together with the Team Leader decides which team members are the Retrospective Accident Site Investigators (where required) to collect site data after the accident has been cleared. (This is a road engineer type role). Before the investigation the Retrospective Accident Site Investigators have the following tasks

Prepare the forms and writing materials for the vehicle investigation
Check own equipment, including cameras, measuring and marking equipment

During the investigation the Retrospective Accident Site Investigators have the following tasks:

Take photos of the accident site and approach of the involved vehicle(s)
Measure all relevant parameters of the road and environment
Fill out the road form(s)

After the investigation the Retrospective Accident Site Investigator has the following tasks:

Check for petrol and equipment in the investigation car

During the case life cycle the Retrospective Accident Site Investigator has the following tasks:

Complete all relevant forms and upload the data to the database
Select site photos, sanitise (blur licence plates, street names, company names/logos) and upload the photos to the database

2.6 Interviewer

The Case Leader together with the Team Leader decides which person(s) is/are the Interviewers for a specific case. It is recommended where possible that the interviewer should have some background in human factors, psychology or a related discipline. This is an expectation for experienced teams. The Interviewer(s) is/are generally responsible to organize the interview(s) for relevant persons in a DaCoTA case. If more than one person is scheduled the task split will be defined by the Interviewers themselves. The interviewer has the following tasks:

Gain written consent for interviews where necessary
Prepare and conduct the interviews (on-scene and/or retrospectively, face to face and/or on the phone)
Fill out the interview forms
Store the interview data in line with local data handling agreements
Liaise with other investigators regarding core findings
Ensure core interview findings are reflected in the case as entered onto the database

2.7 Road User Contact Questionnaire Handler

Where teams choose to collect road user data through questionnaires, a team member will need to be designated who takes responsibility for the following tasks:

Manage questionnaire materials
Send out questionnaires (and where appropriate reminders) to contacts identified by the investigation team
Securely store questionnaires
Transcribe appropriate questionnaire data to the database and liaise with other team members regarding core findings

2.8 DREAM Analyst

The Case Leader together with the Team Leader decides which person(s) is/are the DREAM Analysts for a specific case. The DREAM Analyst(s) is/are responsible for organizing the DREAM Analysis for relevant persons in a DaCoTA case. If more than one person is scheduled the task split will be defined by the DREAM analysts themselves. The DREAM analyst has the following tasks

Prepare and conduct the DREAM analysis
Fill out the DREAM analysis forms
Enter the DREAM analysis on the database

2.9 Reconstruction Analyst

This role should be integrated into all developing and experienced teams. New teams must collect data that an external reconstruction analyst could use, but are not expected to complete their own full reconstructions. The Reconstruction Analyst is generally responsible for the reconstruction of a DaCoTA case. The Reconstruction Analyst has the following tasks

Quality check the data collected for reconstruction – review with investigators where necessary
Prepare and conduct the accident reconstruction
Enter the reconstruction analysis into the DaCoTA database

2.10 Injury Analyst

This role should be integrated into all developing and experienced teams. New teams must collect data that an external injury analyst could use, but are not expected to complete their own full injury analysis. The Injury Analyst is generally responsible for coding the injury data using the AIS method, and the individual causes (mechanisms) of each injury – as suggested by the evidence and in discussion with the investigators of each DaCoTA case. The Injury Analyst has the following tasks

Collect injury information
Code injury information according to the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) 2005 (Update 2008)
Invite and conduct injury analysis meetings with investigators where necessary
Enter the injury data on the DaCoTA database