direct targeted prevention initiatives. The ideal professional to provide this information, based on forensic medical applications, is a nurse with forensic training. A forensic nurse has the ability to evaluate both medical information and physical injuries, describing the scientific relationships between the injury and evidence and interpreting the factors that influence them. A forensic nurse who is cross-trained in occupational injury and fatality investigations is uniquely positioned to integrate nursing science with principles from forensic science, medicine, occupational health and safety, public health, and criminal justice. Forensic nursing expertise can help determine the mechanism and causation of injuries and provide a clearer understanding of the worker’s position, what he or she was doing, the equipment that was being used, and the work process. This is particularly valuable in unwitnessed incidents or when conflicting recollections of incident events exist and can aid in the enforcement of occupational health and safety requirements. In the context of an agency like WorkSafeBC, forensic nursing expertise could be used in a consultation and/or an application role at applicable points in the investigation, from the initial scene assessment through the investigative process to the file’s conclusion. The forensic nurse/ investigations’ officer could attend all appropriate forensic autopsies to share scene information with the forensic pathologist; photograph, evaluate, and document injuries; and gain a shared understanding of the pathology and mechanism of injury. The forensic nurse could also interpret autopsy findings and any toxicology results and describe the relationship to the incident circumstance. Injury interpretation, from the first scene response to the initial stages of the investigation, could also help to direct a previously unidentified investigative pathway or identify an occupational health and safety violation; at the same time, more accurate determination of incident causation without proceeding down multiple exploratory pathways could lead to decreased investigative time and more expedient file closure. The forensic nurse/investigations’ officer could interpret pathophysiology to help determine if a natural event precipitated a fatal workplace accident or speculate on the impact of any toxicological analysis. He or she could also review medical records and liaise with the coroner or other medical professionals, potentially gleaning information that the nonmedical investigations officer may not realize as relevant. At the end stage of the investigation, the input of medical or forensic medical expertise could lead to a better understanding of injury causation and, therefore, an increased opportunity to prevent similar incidents in the future. At the very least, a forensic nurse could be used in a consultative capacity to fill the gap in incident evidence collection and analysis and as a resource in the forensic evaluation of occupational trauma, analysis of incident causation, and forensic education of investigations staff. Forensic nursing involvement could be tracked in conjunction with the resulting positive outcomes to show the evidence of the effectiveness of this application of both medical and forensic medical expertise. 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