Accident Reporting

Accident Reporting

I arrived at a clients premises and knew my task for the day was to complete an investigation into an incident that had occurred on site. There’s nothing remarkable about that, it is part and parcel of my duty as a Competent  Health and Safety Professional. However, this incident only came to light in passing during a telephone conversation. No-one was seriously hurt so my client didn’t consider it necessary to record in the Accident Book. During the phone call I said to protect him and his employee it should immediately go in the Accident Book irrespective of the size of the injury. Whilst carrying out the investigation several facts came to light which caused some concern about Policy not being followed on accident reporting.

Why Record Accidents Anyway?

There is legislation in place, RIDDOR (Reporting of Injuries, Dieseases and Dangerous Occurances Regulations 2013), that requires the reporting of certain serious workplace accidents, occupational diseases and specified dangerous occurrences (near misses). This is a legal requirement and must be complied with, however this does not cover all workplace accidents.

It is good practice to record all near misses, incidents and accidents that have occurred in the workplace, no matter how small or insignificant they may seem. This provides valuable information that can be used to help prevent them from happening again. A near miss one day may become property damage the next and possibly result in an accident where someone gets seriously hurt if the issue isn’t addressed and control measures put in place.

If all accidents are recorded then the relevant risk assessments can be identified and reviewed and the reason why the controls failed can be identified. Additional control measures can be implemented. This will lead to a safer working environment and go a long way towards preventing accidents from happening again.

Every workplace should have an Accident Book that is kept in a place known and accessible to all employees. If an organisation operates over several sites, then each site needs to have their own Accident Book. Any information recorded should be stored for three years.

Who Should Report Any Accidents?

Anyone! It doesn’t matter if you are a visitor to the workplace, an employee, the injured party or the first aider, anyone can report an accident. Within the Health and Safety Policy the procedure for reporting accidents should be set out and it is important that information is delivered to the workforce. Accident reporting should be actively encouraged by Senior Management so everyone feels comfortable discussing what has happened. Empowering workers to report relevant accidents, incidents and near misses will help to improve the safety culture within the organisation and ultimately lead to reducing or preventing them from occurring in the first place.

Active monitoring prevents accidents, reactive monitoring follows an accident.

Irrespective of the severity of the injury, the controls that had been put in place before my site visit had failed, and this was what needed to be investigated. The now completed accident record was used as the basis for the investigation. Statements were taken from the injured employee and any witnesses that were present.  This was done some days after the accident, where best practice would be to get all witness statements immediately or soon after the event. The investigation discovered that the injured employee had deviated from the Safe System of Work with the belief that it would make the job quicker and easier to do. The recommendations I suggested included:

• Carrying out a review of the Risk and Assessment and Safe System of Work. On completion this should be delivered to all relevant employees, possibly in the form of a Tool Box Talk.
• Task specific and safety awareness refresher training for the injured employee.
• Supervision of employee to be carried out.

This safety triangle suggests that there is a relationship between the number of unsafe acts or near misses an organisation has and the amount of minor/major/fatal injuries that occur. On the whole, the majority of incidents we see tends towards the smaller triangle, with the outcome being a near miss or minor injury. However, if they are left unchecked, not investigated to find the underlying cause, and no additional control measures put in place, then the likelihood of a more serious accident occurring increases.

In summary, ensuring that all accidents, no matter how small, are reported and investigated will help to improve the safety culture of your organisation, and may save a life!