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Posted By Alistair Kelman
There is a bit of a debate going on in the office here. We have an HSE Accident Book. If there is an accident, say someone cuts their finger on paper or a laptop falls on their foot then that is the sort of incident which we would write up in the Accident Book.
But what about illnesses? If someone falls ill at work say with asthma caused by exposures at work or maybe stress arising from the pressure then should this be written up in the Accident Book? To my layman's thinking it doesn't seem appropriate - an illness is a continuing action rather than an accident which is a sudden event.
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Posted By David Mains
Generally speaking if staff claim that illness or absence is as a result of their work or working environment then you should record this. I do not know how your systems are set up or the details of your company - this may be done through your RIDDOR reporting or by an investigation report, but if not then having a record in an accident book is a start.
Remember data protection though!
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Posted By Alistair Kelman
That sounds fine in theory but doesn't seem to work in practice. The HSE Accident Book is designed to deal with Accidents at work, single events where an injury has been caused to a member of staff. It is not designed or in my view appropriate for the writing up of an illness.
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Posted By Jerry Lucey
I seem to remember that the maintenance of an accident register i.e. the HSE accident book is a requirment under Social Security legislation and as such it may be worth considering whether occupational ilness is included from this prespective.
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Posted By johnwaterson2773
Hi Alistair,
If there has been an accident at work I also write up a report which is kept away from prying eyes, with all relevant details and would be produced if required at a later date.
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Posted By Alistair Kelman
Looking at the HSE Accident Book it seems to me to be wholly inappropriate for writing up work related illnesses. An accident is something going wrong unexpectedly. Physical examples include an unintended collision (including a person or object unintendedly falling), getting injured by touching something sharp, hot, electrically live, ingesting poisons, or getting injured by not properly landing when jumping. Non-physical examples are unintendedly revealing a secret or otherwise saying something stupid, forgetting an appointment, and similar events.
Technically, "accidents" do not include incidents where someone is at fault, i.e., negligent: where someone fails to take reasonable precautions in the circumstances. If the results of such negligence were foreseeable, they were certainly not "accidental" at that level, and the negligent person can be held liable for damages and personal injuries. In an "accident", there is simply nobody to blame, because the event was unforeseeable or very unlikely. For example, a pharmacist negligently mixes the wrong chemicals and mislabels them for sale; a person ingesting the chemicals according to the label instructions has been "accidentally" poisoned, but the pharmacist's mistake was not so accidental as much as it was negligent.
That, in my view, should be the full extent of the use of an Accident Book. Anything else is a misuse of an important piece of record keeping. If someone contracts an illness at work then this needs to be properly written up and investigated. But not in the Accident Book
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Posted By SREdwards
Accident books are for accidents.
RIDDOR reports will address the requirement to record instances of illnesses (try saying that after a few scoops!).
In each case, at least you have documented evidence that you have recorded the events and acted accordingly.
Besides,as you are no doubt aware, most illnesses are a crude attempt by unscupulous employees to get paid time off! (That's a joke by the way, before I receive 15 emails from the 'Ill People's Defence Society)
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Posted By Fornhelper
Alistair,
Could you provide a scenario of an accident that you would 'write up' in your accident book as, going by your criteria, I think all accident books would become redundant.
When investigating 'accidents' most practitioners would probably find that almost all workplace accidents can be put down to some human failing / negligence / call it what you will (aside from those where the 'forces of nature' are involved).
I would be very surprised if the details of a person falling off a ladder was omitted from an accident book because he over reached (human failing) or wasn't trained properly (human failing).
FH
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Posted By Alistair Kelman
Dear FH,
I am being a bit pedantic. But what I was addressing is the kind of lunacy which would suggest that my secretary (if I were to have one - instead, in this modern age, I type and do everything myself) could write up my shouting at her in the Accident Book as a stress related injury.
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Posted By Fornhelper
Alistair,
Sorry to be pedantic but in this modern age why do you assume that your secretary would be a female !! :)
FH
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Posted By Stephen D. Clarke
RIDDOR is for national monitoring and investigation by HSE/local authority and requires a record and report.
As I understand it Social Security Claims and Payments Regs requires a record only in the BI510 accident book/pad. It is to ensure a record is there to validate (or not) an employees claim for industrial injury benefit.
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Posted By EE
Can somebody clarify to me whether the new HSE approved accident pad (data privacy act complianct)is still called BI510?
Or does the new pad have a different reference.
If so - does the new pad ensure compliance with the requirements of the Social Security Claims and Payments Regs which was to ensure a record is there to validate (or not) an employees claim for industrial injury benefit.
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Posted By David Mains
Sorry EE, I am not familiar with the HSE accident book - my organisation uses an incident reord form that can be used for near misses, accidents incidents and illnesses. Maybe this is the solution to the original posting.
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Posted By stephencarey I believe it may be neccessary to report a recognised industrial injury or illness to The Department of Work and Pensions., from what i understand it is required under RIDDOR on the 3 day rule. WRULD would come within this scope as an instance. http://www.dwp.gov.uk/ad.../industrial_injuries.aspQuote from the page When to claim If you think you have a disease caused by your job, claim Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit straight away.
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Posted By John Murgatroyd
Before you get too carried away. If the person injured or ill makes the entry, which they are perfectly entitled to do (indeed they are also entitled to INSIST that you write down what they want you to).....what are you going to do then ?
Delete it ?
Suppose a person is exposed to fumes (solvent, asphyxiant etc) and feels ill as a consequence....would you say that is not a "valid" entry ?
From the sound of this discussion, you would.
This sounds like another long-winded discussion the purpose of which is concealment of events.
Nothing new then ?
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Posted By alan2603
The accident book in its nature is a guide document. As long as a record is kept it does not matter what it is on. For a company with high risks or hot works the accident book that is produced for a low risk area, is not suitable and sufficient. This is also clear in this area were there is not room to put what you want in. Subsequently the answer to the question is to make your own document.
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