What do I do About Accidents?

This depends very much on what type of injury results from the accident. In general the rules for the reporting of accidents, diseases and dangerous occurrences, etc. are laid down in the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations, 1995 (or RIDDOR as they are known).

What is classed as an accident?

An accident could be described as “an incident at work, or as a result of a work activity, which causes injury’’.

Do all accidents have to be reported?

Accidents themselves do not have to be reported but the injuries which result from the accident do, therefore, if there is an accident in which no one suffers any injury there is no need to report it. It is, however, worth you investigating the incident in order to identify any safety hazards and to prevent a more serious recurrence.

So what injuries need to be reported?

• injuries which cause the death of any person (your employee, another company's employee or a member of the public) or
• Major injury to your employee or a self employed person (including as a result of physical violence)
• Where a member of the public is taken to hospital
• injuries which result in your employee being off work, or unable to do their usual job for more than 3 days

What is classed as a “Major Injury”? ?

A Major injury is

1. any fracture other than to the fingers, thumbs or toes
2. Any amputation
3. Dislocation of the shoulder, hip, knee or spine
4. Loss of sight (whether temporary or permanent)
5. A Chemical or hot metal burn to the eye or any penetrating injury to the eye
6. An injury resulting from an electric shock or electrical burn (including any electrical burn caused by arcing or products such as molten metal from arcing) which leads to either:-
   1. unconsciousness, or
   2. requires resuscitation, or
   3. requires admittance to hospital for more than 24 hours
7. Any other injury which either:-
   1. leads to hypothermia, heat induced illness or unconsciousness
   2. requires resuscitation or
   3. requires admittance to hospital for over 24 hours
8. An injury which leads to loss of consciousness caused by asphyxia or by exposure to a harmful substance or biological agent.
9. Any acute illness needing medical treatment or any loss of consciousness caused by:-
   1. swallowing any substance, or
   2. inhaling any substance, or
   3. by absorbing a substance through the skin
10. Any acute illness which requires medical treatment where there is reason to believe that this resulted from exposure to a biological agent or the agent’s toxins or to infected material.

NB You are reminded that any of the above injuries which result from acts of violence are notifiable

Where do I report an Accident?

An Incident Contact Centre (ICC) (external link) has been established to receive all accident reports. This Centre will receive reports wherever they occur within the UK and whether they are on premises enforced by the Health and Safety Executive or the local Environmental Health Department. Accidents and incidents can be reported by telephone, post, fax or via the Internet (contact details below).

Once notifications have been made to this Centre the details will be forwarded to the appropriate authority, they will also send you a copy for your records.

There is no need to worry about making another report .

When do I report an Accident?

Immediately you are aware of an accident involving:-

1. the death of any person (including a member of the public) or
2. a major injury to a person at work or
3. where a member of the public has been taken to hospital as the result of an accident or
4. a dangerous occurrence

contact the ICC as soon as possible by telephone, fax or e-mail

What about diseases?

There are a number of work-related diseases and conditions which require reporting. Because of this, full details of these are contained on a separate factfile “Occupational Diseases and Medical Conditions”

Should I record the accident in a book ?

Yes. An accident book should be provided on your premises. The book should be used to record any relevant details of accidents affecting employees, visitors or members of the public which either occur on your premises or as a result of the work activities associated with your business whether the accident is a notifiable one or not.

The details that should be recorded include:-

1. In the case of a person at work
   • the full name and address of the injured person
   • their occupation
   • details of the injury
2. In the case of a person not at work, e.g. member of the public (unless the details are not known and it is not reasonably practicable to ascertain them)
   • the full name and address of the injured person
   • their STATUS (e.g. customer, visitor, bystander, etc)
   • details of the injury
3. In all cases –
   • the date and time of the accident
   • the place where it occurred
   • a brief description of the circumstances of the accident
   • the date when it was first reported to the enforcing authority
   • the method by which the event was reported

In addition it may be useful to record –

• the cause of the injury (if known)
• the name and address of any witness(es)
• details of any action taken (including first aid) and any remedial works done to prevent recurrence

Please note that from December 2003 methods of recording accidents must be in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1988. This ensures that previous entries cannot be read by persons recording another accident. New books are available from HSE Books PO Box 1999, Sudbury, Suffolk, CO10 2WA and is called The HSE AccidentBook ISBN 07176 2603 2

What is a “Dangerous Occurrence”?

Generally these relate to things such as:-

• the collapse or overturning of lifting equipment, cranes, hoists, fairground rides, scaffolding or buildings,
• failure of pressure systems
• the failure of freight containers or their parts whilst being raised, lowered or suspended
• contact with high voltage overhead cables
• electrical short circuit followed by fire or explosion
• unintentional explosions
• the accidental release of harmful, flammable or biological substance into the atmosphere.
• malfunction of radiation generators
• malfunction of breathing apparatus
• certain diving incidents
• train collisions
• oil well blow outs and other incidents
• failure of certain pipelines

These notes are only intended as a brief guide to Health and Safety matters and may not cover all aspects in detail.

• Printable Version - What do I do about accidents? (.pdf, 43kb)

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