Is there a legal stance on employees not reporting accidents? We have had several cases of an employee claiming they had an accident at work days after the alleged incident and then calling in sick. Should we record these incidents and recognise them or not? As the last two had no proof at all that they occured at work. Our company handbook and Accident Procedure clearly states that all accidents must be reported immediately and recorded.

There is a general requirement in Section 7 of HASAWA that employees must take reasonable care for the health and safety of themselves and of other persons who may be affected by what they do, or fail to do, at work.

This duty implies not only avoiding obviously silly or reckless behaviour, but also taking positive steps to understand the hazards in the workplace, to comply with safety rules and procedures, and to ensure that nothing they do or fail to do puts themselves or others at risk. Section 7(a)

Under Section 7(b), where duties or requirements are imposed on employers or any other persons under the Act and relevant statutory provisions, employees must co-operate with the employer or other person so far as is necessary to enable the duty or requirement to be carried out.

In your example, there is a duty on your employer to ensure that accidents are reported under RIDDOR. To comply with this duty, you have a procedure, information, instrauction ,training etc of employees. Providing thr procedures are indeed appropriate, the duty on the employee is to co-operate by following them.

However, it is most unlikely that there will be any enforcement action by authorities, but you should have within your HR polcies what constitutes misconduct and disciplinary procedures for dealing with misconduct. Non-compliance with Health and Safety procedures in all organisation I am aware of does constitute misconduct.

I have had this type of expereince when working for a local authority that had a parapatetic workforce. It took significant effort and training of all, including managers to improve the system. A key aspect when reporting sick due to accidents is a set of questions to be asked.

Thanks for the responses. I understand all of the statutory duties, but my point is, why should we end up reporting an incident to the HSE under RIDDOR if:
1. We don't know for sure that it actually happened at work.
2. There were no witnesses.
3. He never even called in to report it, relying on a spouse to call in to say they were sick.

For all I know, he could have done this whilst golfing the morning after.

quote=Jared]Thanks for the responses. I understand all of the statutory duties, but my point is, why should we end up reporting an incident to the HSE under RIDDOR if:
1. We don't know for sure that it actually happened at work.
2. There were no witnesses.
3. He never even called in to report it, relying on a spouse to call in to say they were sick.

For all I know, he could have done this whilst golfing the morning after.

Section 7 of HASAW 1974 states that it is the duty of every employee to co-operate with their employer so far as is necessay.

Therefore we have it in the Company rules that they must report all accidents at the earliest opportunity, with a note that this must be before leaving site at the end of their working shift and that any incidents not reported before leaving site will not be regarded as a work accident / injury. There is also a note that anybody working offsite must report an incident the same working day either by phone or email.

This has been clearly communicated and agreed with the union, but we still get individuals calling in sick as a result of a so-called accident a few days earlier that they did not report. When this happens, the individual is marked down as absent, if it goes over 3 days absence I do not report under RIDDOR and the individuals line manager suggests to them that a disciplanary meeting will be held on their return for not reporting the incident in line with company rules.

I do not fill in an accident investigation form, but I do investigate the claimed accident usually with the union safety rep and the supervisor. I summerise my findings in a report which I submit to senior management. Therefore it does get investigated, but outside of the formal accident investigation system.

You shouldn't wait for a 'back to work' interview. As a caring employer, you should be calling around their home to check on their welfare and offer support. Or even a phone call from an occ health nurse. That'll motivate a few of them!

If it is part of your Company H&S Policy I would remind all employees that by not reporting straightaway that they could be leaving themselves liable for disciplinary action. It generally takes for one person to be disciplined and they will all start to listen.

I had a similar issue in an old workplace and it was very frustrating when the HSE came out querying are reporting and investigation procedures. Fortunately we had excellent procedures in place it was just that one individual chose to ignore them...

A lot of good comments to this, in my current place of work we have made it a policy that all accidents, no matter how minor are not only reported but are investigated by the line manager, then further if required by Top Management.

We have a few instances where ex employees have attempted to claim injury at work, luckily we have been able to disprove all thus far and that is down to thorough record keeping.

During induction and annual H&S refresher training, all employees are taught that it is in their best interest to accurately report accidents and add their versions of the occurrences during the initial informal investigation, this has led to the reporting of some trivial accidents but at least the guys have full awareness of the process and our efforts to prevent reoccurrence.