Posted By Mike Craven Good afternoon folks I have an opinion on this, but would appreciate other views, please. Brief background - We have a sports facility where users have a higher than normal risk of sustaining (usually minor) injuries, namely a ski centre. Users are warned of the risks, our instructors are qualified, appropriate maintenance regimes are in place, we hold the appropriate insurances, etc. Brief details of the incident - Users falls (as many skiers, including the experienced ones do) and sustains an injury, fairly minor but requiring hospital treatment (fractured wrist). Current position - Solicitor makes personal injury claim on behalf of client (the injured skier) and requests information, including copy of original accident form, accident investigation report, risk assessments, etc. BUT also requests copies of ALL previous accident reports from the ski centre for the previous 12 months!!! I have concerns around Human Rights and Data Protection issues - our accident report forms -which are linked to an electronic database - contain personal data of injured persons and of witnesses. Are reports of previous accidents - not connected to the case, and not occurring in similiar circumstances - disclosable? (Note: Without wanting to go too deeply into the particular case, there are circumstances fairly peculiar to the case - there are no witnesses, there is some debate about whether or not the person should have been where he/she was when the incident allegedly occurred, and it is alleged that the person didn't simply "fall over" as other accident reports normally state.) Our ski centre managers and instructors are very "hot" on accident reporting, regardless of minor the injury/damage and we process literally hundreds of accident report forms each year. Does any claimant's solicitor have any right to have access to this information? Many thanks Mike

Posted By Mike Craven Thanks Ron Just to clear-up the area of concern, the injured person had merely gone onto the "advanced" slope rather than staying in the beginners/intermediate area as advised by the instructor. Mike

Posted By Joe Holland Mike, pass all details onto your Insurers, do not pass any information onto the claimants Solicitor. Acknowledge the claimants solicitors letter and inform them that you have forwarded their letter to your insurers.

Posted By Chris Black Ity is worth pointing out to less experienced forum members that this is a common tactic of the slightly less principled solicitors. They often try to panic a respondent by demanding enormous amounts of information in the hope that you don't seek legal advice and agree to a modest settlement rather than endure the time, trouble and expense of being hounded. Always refer solicitor's letters to your insurer who will instruct a solictor on your behalf.

Posted By Heather Aston Mike If ultimately you do have to disclose these forms I would "blank out" all references that might identify the individual - I have had to do this in the past with training matrices which show more than one individual. For the moment I suggest that your insurer has no idea of the magnitude of what the solicitor is asking. I suggest you let them know how many such reports there are and let their investigator have a look when he comes in to carry out his investigation (they are doing one aren't they?) They can then write back to the claimant's solicitor giving their opinion on whether disclosure is necessary. Ultimately if the solicitor pushes it, a court will decide if this disclosure is reasonable. An example. We had an RSI claim for an inspection task where each box of product was accompanied by a "route card" showing which operator had done each task down the line by their initials being written into the corresponding box for the task. Under the terms of our contract with the customer, we keep these route cards for three years. Claimant's solicitor asked for copies of all route cards relating to a six month period (literally hundreds!). Having seen the magnitude of the task, our insurer wrote back and said we would not be copying the cards, but that they were available for them to examine (but not take away) at their convenience. They did not bother..... If your insurer writes back to the solicitors and says soething like there have been X accidents in the last 12 months of which X have involved similar circumstances, that will probably be satisfactory. At any rate, this claim should stand or fall on its own mertis not rely on other similar incidents, provided you can show risk assessments, training, supvision, etc. good luck Heather

Posted By Lorraine Shuker I have also seen this request for copies of other accidents in a recent claim so it would seem to be quite common practice.

Posted By Barry Cooper Mike As others have said, forward the letter of claim to the insurers and let them deal with it.