How long should an organisation hold on to completed accident reports / old accident books? I believe it is three years. Can someone please clarify. Thanks.

Recently I was able to send an ambulance chaser "on his way" because of a detailed 8 year old accident report package. They tried to make out a recent knee "problem" started with this old accident. They were obviously banking on us not having any records My answer is keep this stuff "forever".

Fair point and with electronic accident reporting it is much easier to keep for longer than 3 years. The old paper records/books were a bit more of a problem. We moved office last year and were getting rid of paper accident forms going back to the early 90's as we have nowhere to store in the new office. Clearly with a more serious incident it is prudent to keep the records (and investigation findings) for as long you feel the need. I believe although I have no hard evidence that most of the "no win no fee" firms ask potential claimants at the outset "have you had an accident in the last three years" if beyond that they find it difficult to give reasonable odds of success (enough for them to take it on anyway) although as in your case they can still "try it on." Any potential asbestos exposure incident reports get kept for 40 years.

I think the recommendation is due to the general limitation to claim 3 years from diagnosis of a condition/ailment, not necessarily the initial accident? Pretty sure there are a couple of longer exceptions to this but can't think of them off the top of my head.