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This section covers guidelines on accidents, incidents and near misses.

Accidents at work.

An accident may be defined as an unplanned and uncontrolled event which may or may not result in personal injury, damage to equipment or environment. Accidents where no personal injury or damage occurs are usually referred to as near miss incidents.

Responsibilities.

The Manager, and or supervisor should ensure the following:-

that all staff are made aware of the requirement to report accidents and near misses, including acts of violence and aggression.
that all incidents are investigated to prevent a re-occurrence.
that incidents are reported as required, and that serious incidents have been investigated and the appropriate action has been taken to prevent its re-occurrence
that all incidents are recorded and where necessary reported to the Health and Safety Executive, see further guidance in the following web pages in this OnSafeLines section on accidents.

Introduction to incident reporting and investigation.

Organisations need to be committed to ensuring that all workplace accidents, incidents and near misses are identified, and that appropriate action is taken to prevent a re-occurrence. A 'near miss', can be defined as: 'An incident that has occurred, which, whilst not causing harm on this occasion, is felt to have a definite potential for causing harm in the event of a re-occurrence'. For example, an employee narrowly avoids injury using a faulty piece of work equipment.

With effective health and safety management systems, incidents should be minimized. However, should an incident occur, resulting in ill health, injury or property damage, it should be reported and investigated to prevent a re-occurrence. It is also important that incidents such as near misses, which have the potential to cause accidents, are also reported and investigated.

Accident investigation.

All incidents, accidents and near misses should be investigated so that appropriate action can be taken to prevent a recurrence.

The Manager and or Supervisor should commence an accident investigation and the progress and findings should be forwarded to a Senior Manager. This should be carried out immediately in the case of a serious accident.

In completing the Accident investigation any details requested should give consideration to the following factors:

What any injured person was doing at the time of, and immediately before the accident.

Consider the following:

Accidents at Work

what any injured person was doing at the time of, and immediately before the accident;

were they authorised to be in that specific area;
what type of work was being undertaken;
had they been trained;
were they supervised, and,
nature of the injury and location on the body.

Record details of plant, equipment, substances, etc. involved in the accident. Examine the equipment to the best of your ability. Where necessary engage competent help, e.g. an engineer. Bear in mind that it may be best to engage an independent engineer if the integrity of the machine or maintenance standards maybe questioned.

Furthermore, remember other details such as weather, clothing, lighting, etc. if relevant.

Take statements from any witnesses separately concerning what they saw at the time of the accident. Remain impartial and do not ask leading questions. Confirm that witnesses actually saw the incident, and are not giving an opinion as to what they thought might have happened.

Record the conclusions. Stick to the facts and do not make subjective judgements. Opinions are peripheral to the investigation. Listing recommendations for the prevention of a similar recurrence ought to from part of the accident investigation report. This list of recommendations may typically include any training requirements, including refresher training, which may be beneficial. Remember that these are recommendations, and may not necessarily be readily accepted by those accountable for their implementation. It is therefore, important that accident investigations are signed and accepted by senior management.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article by OnSafeLines, and feel free to browse through the vast quantity of free advice contained within OnSafeLines website, and please, do come back soon, the site is growing every day.

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