Posted By Ian stevenson A first aid trained member of staff approached me today, he queried the treatment book that is kept in the first aid box. The first aid box is accessible to all staff and the treatment book contains informtion relating to staff injuries. He quoted a case of a fellow worker who had been injured and treatment listed in the book, shortly afterwards the details of the injury had become common knowledge. How do we stand regarding the data protection act or worker confidentiality, is it acceptable to keep the book locked in a managers office, is it only a recommendation it is kept in the first aid box. Regards Ian

Posted By Sean Fraser Ian, There was a long discussion about this, now that the BI510 Accident Report Book has been revised and reissued to take account of the 1994 Data Protection Act. You have a legal duty to record your accidents and the use to the BI510 is a simple way to achieve this, although you can operate your own system as long as it meets the criteria - note that the BI510 comes under social welfare legislation as well as health & safety where it requires details of the injured person(s) to be recorded, so don't just rely on RIDDOR or similar H&S oriented regs. If you go ahead and use the BI510 book, you will need to use the newer version by December latest so make sure if you buy one now you get the latest version - make sure no shady operators try to fob you off with their soon-to-be outdated stock! To read the discussion on this forum, go to: http://www.iosh.co.uk/in...view&Forum=1&Thread=4793 For the HSE press release, go to: http://www.hse.gov.uk/press/2003/e03064.htm Hope that is useful. Sean.

Posted By Jay Joshi Employers whose First Aiders used "the old style Accident Book" previously to record first aid treatment in the accident book should review First Aid treatment recording arrangements in view of the new accident book. The HSE Guidance to the First Aid Regs sates:- Para 56 RECORDS. It is good practice for employers to provide first aiders and appointed persons with a book in which to record incidents which require their attendance. Where there are a number of first aiders working for a single employer, it would be advisable for one central book to be used, though this would not be practicable on larger, well spread-out sites. The information to be entered would include: • date, time and place of incident; • name and job of the injured or ill person; • details of the injury/illness and what first aid was given; • what happened to the person immediately afterwards (for example went home, went back to work, went to hospital); • name and signature of the first aider or person dealing with the incident. The information kept can help the employer identify accident trends and possible areas for improvement in the control of health and safety risks. It can be used for reference in future first-aid needs assessments. Such records may also be helpful for insurance and investigative purposes. This record book is not the same as the statutory accident book, though the two might be combined. The above was valid with the old style acciident book, but not with the new accident book.

Posted By Ian stevenson Robert I think you may be right, it is just a note book kept in the first aid kit. It records the name of the injured person,date, time and injury. I think the problem is joe bloggs does not want to be the butt of office jokes because he was stung on the bottom by a bee. But seriously speaking is this record keeping realy nessisary or could it be refined to Name, Date, what was used,does it realy need to be kept in the first aid box. Regards in anticipation of relpies. Ian