Rank: Forum user 
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We had an incident on Monday this week (15th Aug; a guy tripped and twisted his knee). but the guy did not say anything about it until Wednesday morning(17th Aug). no one came forward on Monday to say an accident had occured. This guy has now gone off work. Can anyone tell me where we stand? How are we to know this didn't happen at home/
Regards
Ian.
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Rank: Super forum user
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Ian,
It is quite feasible that someone may carry an injury as described. Therefore you may wish to treat as a genuine accident and investigate and report accordingly.
Additionally you may want to have a frank discussion with the persons line manager and reinforce the individuals responsibility to report all accidents immediately?
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Rank: Super forum user 
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It is not so unusual for someone to sustain an injury at work and not report it immediately. In some cases the injury may not be a problem at the time but worsens, or for other less obvious reasons. Of course, it could be that they did in fact do the injury outside of work. There is normally no way of proving that was the case and therefore you will have to treat it as a work related injury.
Staff may need to be reminded to report any injury no matter how minor at the earliest opportunity and to complete a report form or enter it in the accident book.
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Rank: Super forum user 
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I have managed situations like this. It is very common in organisations with a very low accident rate and very high reputation for safety to be really tough on things like this.
It is often stated "if it was not reported at the time, it did not happen at work".
I would REFUSE to accept this accident happened at work. Conceivably he might not notice any problem till the next day - but the day after? Hmm. As I say I would not accept it.
If your organisation accepts "retrospective" accidents injury chasing solicitors will love you, and I doubt you insurers would be happy.
Tough love is what is needed in cases like this. As has been said, how do you know it didn't happen away from work? Accept this accident, and you can expect more such reports (and claims) - eg the classic "Monday morning my ankle has just gone, co-incidentally I played football yesterday".
As I say, have a firm but fair policy - I have never accepted "retrospective injuries" and never had a problem with this.
If the IP is aggrieved, point him or her towards the HSE.
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Rank: Super forum user 
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If you take Pikeman's advice you play straight into the hands of the ambulance chasers.
Record all of the "accident" details carefully.
I'd personally go further (more detail) than for a normal accident investigation.
Including the delay in reporting, no witnesses etc.
As a professional you have a duty to keep an open mind
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Rank: Super forum user 
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walker wrote:If you take Pikeman's advice you play straight into the hands of the ambulance chasers.
Record all of the "accident" details carefully.
I'd personally go further (more detail) than for a normal accident investigation.
Including the delay in reporting, no witnesses etc.
As a professional you have a duty to keep an open mind Been there and done the same...More information and detail to Stress the point about delay in reporting. I don't subscribe though to a policy that late reporting doesn't mean an injury wasn't sustained at work and have plenty of examples including personal experience where what you think is a minor knock gets worse over a few days.
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Rank: Forum user
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Thanks Guys, I take on board your comments and advice.
Regards
Ian.
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