Legal Recording And Reporting Requirements Of Accidents

Despite preventative measures being in place, accidents in the workplace do unfortunately happen. It is important that when such incidents occur you find out what happened and why. This allows you to control the risk and prevent further accidents. There are several legal responsibilities that organisations must comply with – but what are they and how do they work?

Accident Book
Under the Social Security (Claims and Payments) Regulations 1979, Regulation 25, employers must record accidents at premises where more than 10 people are employed. Anyone injured at work must inform the employer and record information on the accident in an accident book, including a statement on how the accident happened.

The employer must investigate the cause and enter this in the accident book if they discover anything that differs from the entry made by the employee. This record ensures that information is available if a claim is made for compensation.

The HSE produced a new Accident Book BI 510 in May 2003 with notes on these Regulations. The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases, and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR) now complies with the Data Protection Act 1998.

RIDDOR
RIDDOR requires employers, the self-employed, and those in control of premises to report certain more serious accidents and incidents to the HSE or other enforcing authority and to keep a record. There are no exemptions for small organizations. The reporting and recording requirements are as follows:

Death Or Major Injury
If an accident occurs at work and:

• an employee or self-employed person working on the premise is killed or suffers a major injury (including the effects of physical violence) (see Chapter 17 under RIDDOR for the definition of major injury);
• A member of the public is killed or taken to hospital.

The responsible person must notify the enforcing authority without delay by the quickest practicable means, such as by telephone. They will need to give brief details about the organization, the injured person(s), and the accident’s circumstances. Within 10 days, the responsible person must also send a completed accident report form, F2508.

Over 3-Day Lost Time Injury
Suppose there is an accident connected with work (including physical violence), and an employee or self-employed person working on the premises suffers an injury and is away from work or not doing their normal duties for more than 3 days (including weekends, rest days or holidays but not counting the day of the accident). In that case, the responsible person must send a completed accident report form, F2508, to the enforcing authority within 10 days.

Disease
If a doctor notifies the responsible person that an employee suffers from a reportable work-related disease, a completed disease report form, F2508A, must be sent to the enforcing authority. A summary is included in Chapter 17, and a full list is included with a pad of report forms. The HSE InfoLine or the Incident Contact Centre can be contacted to check whether a particular disease is reportable.

Dangerous Occurrence
Suppose an incident that does not result in a reportable injury but obviously could have done. In that case, it could be a dangerous occurrence as defined by a list in the Regulations (see Chapter 17 for a summary of dangerous occurrences). All dangerous occurrences must be reported immediately, for example, by telephone, to the enforcing authorities. The HSE InfoLine or the Incident Contact Centre can be contacted to check whether a dangerous occurrence is reportable.

A completed dangerous occurrence report form, F2508DO, must be sent to the enforcing authorities within 10 days. There are also special report forms for flammable gas incidents and incidents offshore.

How Can Locate Global Help?
In addition to providing an effective system for raising alerts, the Locate Global app enables employees to report safety-related information that is not life-threatening. This encourages dialog and gives your organization important insight from those ‘on the ground’ as well as the opportunity to act on the information as required.

These reported problems – which includes time, date and location information – are also prioritized accordingly within your dashboard, ensuring that you deal with real emergencies or urgent incidents first.

Find out more at www.locate.global/live-demo.