IIAI Exec Committee Chair – Hands On in Saudi Arabia

Posted on Tuesday, July 8th, 2025

In May 2025, Alan Dell travelled to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to commence assessments of the quality of IIAI Approved Course deliveries there.

A Post by Alan Dell MBE, IIAI Executive Committee Chairman

In October 2024, I was advised that Neucom Ltd had been granted clearance to deliver another round of IIAI Approved Accident Investigation training courses in the Middle East; specifically, on this occasion, Tabuk, Taif, Al Majma’ah and Dhahran, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The courses would be delivered in May and October 2025, and, as Neucom would soon be due for Executive Review (undertaken on a strict schedule when the delivery language of an IIAI Approved Course is not the first language of the attendees), I was asked if I would be available to commence those reviews on the Tabuk and Taif courses in May. As my schedule had never allowed me to do this in the past, I was pleased to eventually find myself heading to course one in Tabuk, via London and Jeddah.

(Pic 1. Alan Dell delivering a short section of the IIAI Lead Accident Investigators’ Certificate course in Tabuk).

In the weeks before departure, I had to refresh the main course being delivered, which was the IIAI Lead Accident Investigators’ Certificate (LAIC). The LAIC is a three-day classroom taught course, and, as ‘a’ pre-requisite for it is the IIAI Foundation Certificate in Industrial Accident Investigation and Analysis course, I refreshed that online prior to refreshing the LAIC. I say ‘a’ pre-requisite, because delegates from outside the UK must also undertake an Additional Short Exercise once the Foundation has been completed, so I also refreshed myself on the requirements of that part as well.

Amongst many other things, a person assessing and monitoring the delivery quality of IIAI Intermediate level courses (e.g. LAIC) and/or IIAI Higher Certificate Units (e.g. ‘Evidence Gathering at Work Related Traffic Accident Scenes’) is looking for evidence that the Instructor is fully conversant with the specific topics and subjects covered by the course in question, and their equivalents in any lower level course. There must also be evidence that the Instructor can make timely, knowledgeable, and appropriate links and references to higher level IIAI materials, without overwhelming, and to investigations she/he has conducted. In addition, an assessor must take an active delivery role in a part of the course so assessment can be made of the Instructor’s (here, Paul Difford, Neucom’s Principal Investigator and Senior Instructor) ability to produce lesson plans for others. Paul selected a short 20 minute part from the section on ‘Witnesses and Interviewing’ for me (see pic 1. above, myself delivering at Tabuk, and pic.2. below, myself at Taif), and it is on part of that section that I now wish to focus.

(Pic 2. Alan Dell delivering a short section of the IIAI Lead Accident Investigators’ Certificate course in Taif).

The slide visible in pic.2 formed part of my delivery at Tabuk and Taif. One of its many purposes is to focus discussions on the possibility that our questions could, depending on the nature of events being enquired into, require a witness to recall memories that are stressful, even traumatic. In addition to discussions of the care, caution and considerations that may, therefore, need to be made in the planning and execution of an interview, investigators are reminded to remain sensitive to the fact that recall can be triggered by many things, not just specific questions. As it happens, two of those many other matters are images, and anniversaries.

As regards images, pic. 3 below is of my tutor profile slide, which Paul had introduced to delegates on the morning of day one, and again in the after-noon prior to handing over to me. In view, not least, of the matters to be raised, revisited and expanded upon in the short section I was to deliver, the slide was particularly pertinent. As investigators, and those who produce, analyse and/or revise safe systems of work and risk control strategies, we must be alert, not least, to the sources of distractions that could, in a safety critical operational setting, negatively affect performance, even be disastrous.

(Pic 3.)

Whilst I purposefully recall memories of July 7th 2005 at times of remembrance or, for instance, to assist discussions of emergency planning and business continuity, those that intrude now tend to be of short duration. However, the 20^th anniversary of those terrible attacks was approaching, and I would soon be attending a service of commemoration at St. Paul’s Cathedral, London. Preparations had caused me to think about the colleagues I would see again, and the many discussions of 7/7 that would naturally arise. In addition, and amongst so many other things, I had recalled the day Queen Elizabeth II presented my MBE to me, and my later attendance at the Inquest into 7/7, to give evidence to the Coroner. Consequently, a potential (slim but real) for pre-occupation and distraction on my part had been identified, so was offset by Paul’s presence at the back of the class. He would, of course, also revisit, further clarify, and reinforce my presentation on day three, and, having made relevant links between the Foundation and Lead Certificate courses, carefully introduce relevant aspects from IIAI Higher Certificate Units (e.g. IIAI Advanced Investigative/Interviewing Skills; IIAI Stress and Trauma Management).

Following my assessments (which will be finalised at Al Majma’ah and Dharan, Saudi Arabia, later this year) at Tabuk and Taif, my recommendation is that Neucom Ltd should continue for another defined period as an IIAI Approved International Centre, and I find Paul Difford’s rating as an IIAI Senior Instructor to be entirely appropriate. As for deliveries in the UK, I was also able to attend an IIAI/RDC sponsored session of the LAIC at Taunton, in June. Having monitored the practical part of that course, and spoken at length with many of the delegates so as to receive their feedback first hand, Neucom Ltd’s IIAI Approved Centre license, and that of its Senior Instructor, have been recommended for immediate continuation.

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