We have just had an accident, what do I need to do?'

The worst has happened - an accident has occurred; the injured party has received First Aid treatment, been taken to hospital or sent home. What should you do now?

This article takes you through the actions you need to take, from reporting to investigation, and discusses the information an enforcing authority inspector or your insurance company might require you to provide.

What Makes an Accident Reportable?

The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) requires the following types of accident to be reported:

• a fatality   
• a major injury (e.g. a fracture other than to fingers and toes, amputation, loss of sight etc.)
• an over-3-day injury (i.e. any accident resulting in 3 days' absence from work, not including the day of the accident but inclusive of weekends).

How Soon Do I Need to Report an Accident?

In the event of a death or major injury, you must report the accident by the quickest means possible (usually by telephone). This must be followed up within 10 days with a completed accident report form (F2508). This can be done in hard copy or completed online. For a 3-day injury, a completed accident report form must be sent within 10 days of the accident.

Informing Others

You should also inform your insurance company as soon as possible after the accident and, if you are in receipt of indemnity insurance through NorthgateArinso Employer Services, you should also inform us that a reportable accident has occurred.

Fill In Your Accident Book

You should detail the circumstances of any accident (reportable or not) in your accident book. The information should be filled in as soon as possible after the accident and all the information completed on the report.

The accident book report will provide the starting information on which an investigation can be based.

You should be using a Data Protection Act compliant accident book (one which allows accident reports to be torn out and kept in a secure place). If you do not currently have such an accident book, you should obtain one without delay.

Informing Others

Every accident involving a fatality or major injury should be investigated. Where a 3-day injury results in a chronic condition, e.g. back problems, then this should also be investigated.

As well as investigating fatalities and major accidents, where the same minor accident or 3-day injury keeps occurring on a frequent basis you may also wish to carry out an investigation. The investigation would be looking for a common cause for the accidents and if actions can be identified that would prevent them.

Where an enforcing authority inspector is likely to get involved, it is important to investigate the accident as soon as possible. The inspector will be interested in the results of your investigation, as will your insurance company if the accident results in an employee claim for compensation.

How Do I Investigate an Accident?

The aim of any accident investigation is to find out the facts of the accident and to identify additional control measures which can be put in place that will prevent similar accidents occurring. The aim of an accident investigation should never be to apportion blame for the accident. The most important questions to ask are:

• Who? -Who was involved in the accident and were there any witnesses?
• What? - What actually happened?
• When?- When the accident actually happened.
• Where? -The actual location that the accident occurred.

Statements should be taken from any injured party and any witnesses to the accident. Sometimes, getting a statement from an injured party can be difficult especially if the person is in hospital. In such cases, the investigation should be pursued as far as possible and actions taken on the available information, however, a statement should still be taken from any injured party as soon as possible.

The ultimate aims of the investigation should be to identify:

• The immediate causes of the accident.
• Any underlying causes.

Immediate causes are those which cause the accident e.g. in an accident where someone falls from a ladder because the ladder base slides away, the immediate cause of the accident was that the base of the ladder slid away. Underlying causes are those which lead to immediate causes. So what could have led to the ladder sliding away? The following underlying causes are among those that could have allowed the accident to happen:   

• The ladder could be defective due to lack of maintenance or lack of inspection prior to use (e.g. missing rubber feet).
• The employee using the ladder might not have been trained to carry out the task.
• The employee might be deviating from a safe working procedure (e.g. the ladder being footed by another employee), this could occur due to lack of management supervision.
• The safe method of work was inadequate.
• The floor on which the ladder stood might be in a poor state of repair due to lack of maintenance.   
• There could have been a spillage on the floor on which the ladder stood which had not been cleaned up, thereby causing it to slip.

As a result of the investigation, you should identify additional control measures that can be put in place to prevent further accidents of the same type occurring. Sometimes, you may need to put temporary measures in place which will control the risk until permanent measures can be put in place.

Additional Control Measures

Having identified the underlying causes of the accident, you should now look at removing these potential accident causes by putting in additional control measures. In the case of the example accident chosen, the following control measures could be put in place:   

• A programme of effective ladder inspection and maintenance being put in place, including requiring employees to inspect ladders prior to use.
• Training employees carrying out the task so that they are competent to do it.
• Additional supervision to ensure employees are following safe working procedures.
• The safe method of work is revised.
• A programme of effective premises maintenance (especially in relation to maintenance of floors).
• Procedures to be put in place to ensure that spillages are identified, controlled and are promptly cleaned up.

Any existing risk assessment for the task should also be reviewed and amended to take account of any new control measures put in place and to ensure that these control measures do not themselves cause additional risks in other areas.

What Documentation will the Inspector and our Insurance Company Require?

If an inspector becomes involved, or a claim for compensation is made, then both the inspector and insurance company are likely to be interested in the same documentation. The inspector will be looking for evidence of the company failing to meet its legal duties under Health and Safety legislation, with a view to prosecuting the company or issuing prohibition or improvement notices. The insurance company will be looking for evidence that can be used to defend the claim or reduce the amount of compensation to be paid (e.g. by proving contributory negligence on the part of the employee). The following is a list of documents that may be pertinent to a particular accident:

• Records that show that the workplace and any equipment or plant involved in the accident was adequately maintained.
• Records of induction training.
• Records that show that the employee was trained and competent for the task that was being carried out at the time.
• The risk assessment and safe method of work in place at the time of the accident.
• Records of supervision or monitoring carried out by management.
• Records of the issue of any personal protective equipment e.g. safety footwear.
• The original accident book entry.
• Records of any investigation undertaken, including any statements taken.
• Evidence that additional control measures have been implemented.
• Revised risk assessment and safe method of work.

Who Should I Report the Accident To?

You no longer need to report accidents directly to your enforcing authority, but to a central reporting agency, the details of which are:

Incident Contact Centre
Caerphilly Business Park
Caerphilly
CF83 3GG

Tel: 0845 300 9923
Fax: 0845 300 9924

Email: riddor@natbrit.com

You can also report accidents online at their website at http://www.riddor.gov.uk