We all hear stories of misguided companies CoSHH assessing tipex and risk assessing stairs, but where do you draw the line with accident reports? I don’t mean recording in the accident book, but a basic accident investigation? How minor / major will an accident have to be before you investigate it on paper? Loss time? Small cut ? How and where do you draw the line on investigating or not investigation due to triviality? Is it your own opinion or do you have a written black / white policy? Do you only investigate RIDDOR’s as legally required? It would be interesting to hear your thoughts ?

As Jane said it all depends.. You have to look at the seriousness so the accident/incident and its potential for being a more serious incident. You also have to look at what you can do about it. Some of our staff do a fair bit of driving and get caught up in the occasional RTA. Although potentially this could be serious in most cases there is very little we can do about apart from banning our people from driving( which we can’t do); we don’t investigate most RTA to any sort of depth unless there is something that is obviously within our control eg evidence of a poorly maintained vehicle, or someone had been driving for too many hours etc. as a cause of the accident.

The following is taken from our policy and find it quite a useful guide. Do all incidents have to be investigated? Yes. However, not all events need to be investigated to the same extent. A simple risk-based approach should be used to identify where most benefits can be gained from an investigation. The greatest time and effort should be concentrated on events that caused, or had the potential to cause serious injury or ill-health. To assist you in deciding how much time and effort to afford an investigation, consideration should be given to the following: • What was the worst that could have happened? • What prevented the worst from happening? • What was the worst injury or damage that could have resulted (the severity potential)? • How often could such an event occur (the recurrence potential)? • How many people could the event have affected (the population potential)? A

Full 8D/Ishikawa and 5 whys for all accidents - by nature some are less complex than others. Stu

All Accident reports should at least be read!! One company I came across in the days of accident books had just left the accident book on the shop floor to be filled in. When they were faced with a claim after three years they were quite upset to red the single sentence fell over and broke leg. Apparently the personnel department had assumed the accident which occurred on a Friday evening had happened at home. The employee left while still in recovery. Believe me it still happens with accident report forms which get left in books or none knows where they should be sent. Managers who see accident investigation as outside their area of responsibility. But all points in posts above are true you need to set your criteria for detailed investigation based on your own systems.