Why Incident Investigations Need More Curiosity and Less Blame | Joseph Bachi

"It's not just about making sure that you're checking boxes and being compliant. It's deeper than that. It's about caring for people and creating that environment where it is safe to speak up." - Joseph Bachi

Safety investigations should help us understand what happened and make it easier to prevent the next incident. But when investigations focus on blame, they can shut down the very conversations that could reveal what really went wrong. Joseph Bachi, Division Safety & Health Manager of the Gypsum Division at Georgia-Pacific, brings years of experience across manufacturing, automotive, and mining safety, along with a deep understanding of Human and Organizational Performance (HOP) principles. In this episode of The Canary Report, host Michael Zalle sits down with Joseph to explore how shifting from blame-based interrogations to curiosity-driven conversations can uncover the operational challenges traditional investigations often miss. Joseph shares how asking better questions, listening to frontline employees, and designing systems that make it easier to do things right can transform incident investigations. They also explore near-miss learning, engineering controls, decentralized safety leadership, and the value of independent observation in identifying blind spots.