Make it safe

Incidents at work

Good practice indicates that all employers should maintain systems for:

• prevention of accidents and dangerous occurrences

• investigation of accidents and dangerous occurrences

• dealing with accidents, dangerous occurrences and emergencies

• routine analysis of types of accidents and dangerous occurrences, and their underlying causes and trends within the organisation

• reporting of specified accidents and dangerous occurrences to regulatory authorities.

  These points are enshrined in various statutes dealing with management of health and safety at work, risk assessment, reporting of accidents, major injuries and dangerous occurrences. They are possibly the most visible of an employer’s health and safety responsibilities.

Any accident at work should be investigated to establish its cause, regardless of whether it involves an employee, a work-experience trainee, self-employed person or contractor working on the premises, a visitor, or member of the public.

In addition to moral and legal obligations, effective accident management makes good business sense by reducing costs due to injury, downtime, lost materials etc, and in around 300 cases a year the death of the person concerned.

Employers’ duties

The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 contains general duties for employers to provide safe working practices and workplaces. The duties were expanded in a number of specific regulations:

Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 Includes requirements that all employers must make contact with providers of external services, with explicit reference to first aid, emergency health care, and any potential rescue service providers such as the fire brigade. The new regulation is meant to support employers’ arrangements for dealing with serious and imminent danger.

Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 The so-called Riddor regulations contain detailed requirements to categorise injuries and incidents, detailing those which must be reported to the HSE or local authorities, specifies which diseases and dangerous occurrences are to be reported, and determines which records must be kept.

Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981 Stipulates that employers must provide adequate and appropriate equipment and facilities, enough suitable people to administer first aid, a responsible person to take charge when the designated first aider is absent, and information to all employees concerning the arrangements for first aid.

Implementing reporting

A number of studies published over the past three or four decades show there are benefits to be had from introducing a reporting system for near misses, as a means of reducing the numbers of actual accidents.

One of the most famous was published by Frank Bird, a US management guru who proposed the so-called ‘Birds triangle’. This illustrates the principle that of every 300,000 unsafe acts there is the potential for 10 per cent to result in an accident with varying degrees of severity, and the probability of one fatality occuring.

The implication is that by reducing the number of all incidents, the probability of a serious incident occurring is substantially diminished. It is an example of the ‘zero tolerance’ attitude to incidents.

Barriers to introducing a reporting system include:

• organisational culture — a positive attitude from all concerned within the organisation to promote good health and safety practices is required. A ‘blame culture’ is the antithesis of an effective safety culture

• individual attitudes — reporting unsafe acts or near misses may appear to be betraying their friends or colleagues.

Categorisation

Broadly speaking legislation has already determined categories of incidents and diseases. There are strict reporting criteria laid down in Riddor that can be incorporated into the incident management system.

Reportable accidents

the categories and definitions are:

Death – as an immediate result of a work-related accident, or a death within one year from a reportable accident major injury.

Major injury – definitions are listed in Riddor and include:

• fracture of the skull, spine or pelvis

• fracture of any bone in the arm, wrist, leg or ankle (excluding the hand or foot)

• amputation of a finger, thumb or toe, or any part of these if the bone or joint is completely severed

• loss of sight of an eye, or a penetrating injury to the eye, or a chemical or hot metal burn

• injury requiring immediate medical assistance, or loss of consciousness, resulting from electric shock

• loss of consciousness due to asphyxiation (lack of oxygen)

• decompression requiring immediate medical assistance (but see the Diving Operations at Work Regulations 1981)

• illness that require immediate medical attention plus loss of consciousness due to chemical inhalation, absorption or ingestion

• illness requiring medical attention due to exposure to a pathogen or infected material

• injury resulting in immediate admission to hospital for more than 24 hours.

Reportable accidents – an accident that causes three or more consecutive days of incapacity for work. The day of the accident does not count, but weekends and holidays do. Note that ‘incapacity’ means unavailability for normal work, so a substantial variation of normal working might also count towards the three days. Acts of violence done to people at work and suicides on railways are now included.

Dangerous occurances – a complete list of dangerous occurrences can be found in schedule 2 of Riddor 1995, with more detailed explanation in the Health & Safety Executive’s guide L73, ‘A guide to the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995’.

Reportable diseases – linked with work-related exposures to substances, pathogens or infected material, and physical agents such as radiation, pressure, vibration and repetitive work. A medical certificate confirming the diagnosis is required. The list of reportable diseases is available on page 55 of the HSE’s guide L73.

Informal incident categories

Aside from the legal categories, these categories can be used for both statistical analysis and in determining incident investigation criteria. There are two further sets of categories to be defined for use in internal reporting systems.

No lost time – an accident requiring the injured person to report for first aid treatment, but is not so severe that it incapacitates the injured employee for more than two days.

Negligible – only result in first aid treatment on site, with return to work without further loss of time.

Investigating incidents

All employers have a duty to monitor and review their health and safety management system. One of the ways of complying with this is to investigate accidents and incidents and then implement appropriate remedial actions.

All reportable incidents must be investigated and remedial actions identified, implemented and monitored.

In addition to the investigations required by law, every organisation should determine the criteria by which non-reportable incidents are to be investigated, and the degree or depth of that investigative action.

Negligible (no lost time and only first aid required) – no investigation required unless the organisation chooses to. Enter into accident book.

Moderate (up to three days of lost time plus first aid) – line manager to decide if investigation required. Enter into accident book and write short report with recommendation.

Serious (lost time, reportable accident) – investigation required. Record in accident book. Requires reporting to the enforcing authority within 10 days on form F2508.

Major (major injury, reportable disease, or dangerous occurrence) – investigation necessary. Report to the enforcing authority immediately by telephone.

Fatality – inform the enforcing authority by telephone immediately.

Procedure

The procedure for incidents that require further investigation is:

1 incident occurs

2 responsible person or line manager informed

3 any critical remedial measures required to prevent reoccurrence are implemented immediately

There are benefits from introducing a system for near misses, as a means of reducing actual accidents

4 accident investigation procedure implemented as soon as possible. This is a process of identifying the direct causes of an incident and analysing the supporting root causes until relevant safety objectives are identified. Ask what, who, when, where and how (can it be prevented). This information will help to determine:

• general preventative measures required weak points of safety management

• prevention of a recurrence

5 obtain statements from injured person (if practicable), and witnesses. These may be used in criminal or civil proceedings, or to respond to a claim for industrial injury benefit

6 report completed and sent to the authorities (if appropriate)

7 recorded data stored with a unique reference number

8 implementation dates for remedial action agreed

9 monitor and review the remedial action

Causes of accidents

The main causes of accidents are:

• lack of supervision and control

• unsatisfactory systems of work

• poor housekeeping or maintenance

• insufficient training

• breach of instructions or ignoring safety procedures

• design and layout of the workstation

• mechanical failure

Employers have the primary responsibility

to ensure these causes are addressed, although employees have a duty to co-operate with their employer.

Collating and analysing statistics

In most organisations there will be specific types of accident trends, which usually depend on the type of business. For employers to fulfil their duties towards the maintenance of a safe working environment, these trends need to be identified and remedial actions implemented.

Collation process

• decide what information you need: number of personnel on site; number of hours worked; number of accidents – reportable, non reportable, number of days lost

• set up a management system to get that information

Methods of analysis

Negligible incidents are to be found in the accident book, and must be periodically monitored to determine if trends are apparent. What looks to be a minor occurrence on its own can become significant if there is an epidemic of them.

In larger organisations, a more methodical approach is required involving incident data analysis:

Annual injury incidence rate – this HSE method provides a formula for calculating the rate of accidents per 100,000 employees per year: multiply the number of report-able injuries by 100,000, then divide the outcome by the average number employed during the year.

Frequency rate – a method often used where the numbers of employees is smaller is to determine the frequency rate of incidents. This method counts working hours, and is commonly used to provide month-on-month comparison figures, however it can be used for any time period: multiply the number of injuries in the period by 1 million, then divide the outcome by the total hours worked during the period.

Gravity rate – a so-called ‘gravity rate’ can also be calculated: multiply the number of days lost by 1,000, then divide the outcome by the total hours worked during the period.

For greater accuracy holidays and sickness would be deducted from the total hours figures.

This calculation can be applied to all categories of accidents ie no lost time, lost time etc.

How to comply with Riddor

The enforcing authorities do investigate reportable occurrences, during which they will require the organisation to produce evidence not only of an adequate health and safety management system, but also that the accident has itself been investigated and remedial actions implemented.

Each category of reportable occurrence has a definite protocol by which it must be reported.

Death

• Report immediately by the quickest method available, eg telephone

• Confirm on form F2508 within 10 days

• Carry out investigation

• Records must be retained for at least three years from the date of the report

Major injury

• Receives immediate treatment by a doctor or hospital off site

• Entered into the accident book by responsible person

• Report immediately by the quickest method available eg telephone

• Confirm on form F2508 within 10 days

• Carry out investigation

• Records must be retained for at least three years from the date of the report

Reportable accident

• Receives first aid treatment and/or is treated by a doctor off site

• The accident is recorded in the accident book by either the injured person, the first aider or responsible person

• The accident is brought to the attention of the line manager

• Responsible person completes report form F2508 and sends it to the enforcing authority within 10 days

• Carry out investigation

• Records must be retained for at least three years from the date the report was made

Dangerous occurrence

• Incident occurs

• Report to the line manager or responsible person. That person is immediately to contact the enforcing authority by telephone etc and confirms it is a reportable dangerous occurrence

• Complete report form F2508 and send to the enforcing authority within 10 days

• Investigate incident

  The accident book is the first link in the chain of records required for accident investigation

• Retain records for at least three years either at the site where the incident occurred or at the normal workplace of the responsible person

Reportable disease

• Notification is received from a doctor that an employee has contracted a reportable work-related disease

• The line manager refers the matter to the responsible person, who conforms the disease is reportable

• Completed report form F2508A sent to the enforcing authority within 10 days

• Investigation to ensue

• Retain records at the place of work where the disease occurred or at the normal workplace of the responsible person for at least three years from the date of the report

Recording and communicating results

It is the duty of every employer to retain records of reportable accidents etc. Any information specifically referring to an accident must be held for at least three years. The enforcing authorities are also very keen that all records should be held in an easily retrievable fashion.

As well as the details of incidents the following records must be kept.

Accident prevention within the organisation

No specific forms are required for this section. However the following must be recorded:

• arrangements for providing a competent person to manage health and safety

• health and safety policy arrangements for accident prevention

Accident categories

The criteria used within the organisation for categorisation of accidents must be recorded.

Reportable accidents

There are specific forms to be used for reporting to the enforcing authorities:

Form F2508 – to be completed by the employer when a work related accident, or dangerous occurrence happens, which meet the reporting criteria of Riddor. It is permissible to send the information via another reporting method as long as all the relevant information is contained in it.

Form F2508A – to be completed when confirmation is received of the diagnosis of a disease which is contained within the Riddor reporting criteria.

Form F2508G – to be completed following an incident involving death or major injury caused by flammable gas.

Copies must be retained for three years.

Internal accident report form

The information that must be retained in this section depends on where the accident or incident occurred and to whom:

1 accident occurs at their place of work:

• date of injury

• exact location at time of incident

• full name

• occupation

• nature of injury

2 accident at a place which is not the normal place of work:

• date on which the event was first reported and to whom

• full name

• standing of the injured party eg passenger or customer

• nature of injury

• exact location of accident or dangerous occurrence

• brief description of incident

3 occupational diseases as listed in Riddor:

• date of diagnosis

• name of the person affected

• occupation

• name or nature of disease

• date when disease was first reported to the enforcing authority

• how the report was made, eg by phone

Accident book

This is the first link in the chain of records required for accident investigation. It is:

• to be held in a place where all personnel have access to it (in larger organisations it may be necessary to hold more than one book)

• to include all accidents, however minor

• to be monitored regularly by responsible personnel

Information required for each entry:

• name

• occupation

• date and time of accident

• brief description of injury

• location of accident

• brief outline of circumstances

• signature

Contractors report form

Contractors are liable for reporting their own accidents to the enforcing authority. But this could lead to a breach of duty should the contracting organisation remain unaware of unsafe occurrences on site, therefore they must maintain systems to ensure that this does not occur. A simple accident report form for contractors to complete as part of the contract controls will provide the answer.