Posted By Simon Walsh Grad IOSH I will take each of your questions in turn and give you my understanding on the process. If anyone agrees please feel free to chip in (courteously though please)! 1. What actual regulations cover it if any. The Social Security Act states that you must have an Accident Book. You do not have to have the HMSO version but you can devise your own, as long as the information required in the HMSO version appears in your book. 2. Is it a legal requirement to fill it in or just to advise it is filled in. It is a legal requirement to fill it in (see above) 3. Who's responsibility is it to ensure it is filled in. Ultimately it is the injured persons responsibility to complete the accident book. 4. If you investigate an incident and report as normal to RIDDOR should it be one, then you find out the accident report book has not been filled in does this matter or should you then get the person to fill it in after. If you report as RIDDOR (assuming it is) and you find out the accident book has not been completed, it is the responsibility of the injured person to fill it in as soon as practicable. If this is not possible it can be filled in on the injured persons behalf by someone else. 5. How long can a person wait to fill it in after the incident/accident. It has to filled in as soon as practicable after the accident. Hope this helps.

Posted By Lynne Ratcliffe It would seem that the keeping of an 'accident book' is required by statute "Record keeping Do I need to record incidents requiring the attention of a first aider? HSE recommends that it is good practice to provide your first aiders/ appointed persons with a book in which to record incidents that required their attendance. The information kept can help you identify accident trends and possible areas for improvement in the control of health and safety risks. It can also be used for reference in future first aid needs assessments. This record book is not the same as the statutory accident book though the two could be combined. There is a legal requirement to report accidents and ill health at work. Information on the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 is given in the HSE leaflet RIDDOR Explained [PDF 143kb]. What information should be recorded? Useful information to record might 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. Who is responsible for keeping the records? It is usually the first aider or appointed person who looks after the book. However, employers have overall responsibility." extract from HSE topic first aid pages on record keeping. However, I cannot find the statute and as this is end of lunch time i hope the above helps! at least we know there is a statutory requirement and I hope that someone else can nail that bit for us!

Posted By J Knight Lynne, The legal requirement refers only to RIDDOR'95, and covers only certain specified events. The law relating to the BI510 is Social Security law, and not H&S law; penalties and enforcement etc are very different. AJM's post about affecting claims to benefit hits the nail on the head; the BI510 is about Industrial Injuries Benefits, and failure to complete may affect your claim; that's about as exciting and taxing as it gets, John