Posted By Katiem
It has recently come to my attention that accidents at work involving persons with a mental illness have to be reported RIDDOR??) whether this is work related (in connection with.. etc ) or not. This would include such things as dementia, manic depression etc. Have I understood this correctly? Has anyone else had any experience of this? I would be grateful for any comments/advice on this one.

Many thanks

Posted By Katiem
I have nothing concrete, but it was brought to my attention in a discussion. I've not been able to see evidence of this yet and I was wondering what others experiences might be. Thanks.

Posted By Katiem
I'm sorry, perhaps I wasn't clear. This is not mental illness as the result of an accident, but someone with a mental illness having an accident which in a place of work. For example, if you work in a care home for people with learning difficulties and a resident has an accident (e.g. burning themselves with hot liquid or an injury sustained during fitting) is this reportable? Another example would be someone in a dementia home for the elderly sustaining a fractured hip as the result of falling over (as old people do alot).
Incidences like these apparently have to be reported to the Mental Health Commision, but with RIDDOR there is no distinction in determination of "work Related" nature of et incident.

I hope this clarifies.

Thanks all.

Posted By Lumpy
I agree with the previous post. If the employer failed to do, or did something that resulted in the accident then, if it meets the RIDDOR criteria, be reportable. The employer must take into consideration the mental ability of those to whom owes a duty of care. Consider the duty owed to the young / inexperienced .... greater than more mature employees. You would not leave a five year old to make a cup of tea unsupervised, so why leave someone who has the metal age of a four year old ?

Lumpy

Posted By J Knight
Hi Karen,

Under Reg 14 of the old Care Homes Regulations and a corresponding requirement under the old Nursing Home Regs any event which materially affacted the condition of a service user in a care home had to be reported to the Inspectors.

Now, under the Care Standard regs it's regulation 37 and it says

'a) the death of any service user, including the circumstances of his death;

(b) the outbreak in the care home of any infectious disease which in the opinion of any registered medical practitioner attending persons in the care home is sufficiently serious to be so notified;

(c) any serious injury to a service user;

(d) serious illness of a service user at a care home at which nursing is not provided;

(e) any event in the care home which adversely affects the well-being or safety of any service user;

(f) any theft, burglary or accident in the care home;

(g) any allegation of misconduct by the registered person or any person who works at the care home.'

Must be reported to the commission without delay. There is thus no special provision under RIDDOR for people recieveing residential care, but there is a duty to report to CHAI/CSCI,

John

Posted By J Knight
Lance,

while I agree with you you run the risk of confusing the issue. Patients and service users are still treated as ordinary members of the public for RIDDOR; there are no special provisions made for somebody just because they are a patient or service user. Accidents involving failures of care are reportable provided they meet the criteria for RIDDOR (e.g. result in death or a trip to hospital etc) because they arise out of work; work in this case being the provision of care. Accidents to people in residential homes only need to be reported to HSE/LA if they reach RIDDOR thresholds as regards severity, and if they arise out of work,

John

Posted By Lance Morgan
Sorry, 'Regional Office' should be Strategic Health Authority as they are called now.

Posted By jackw.
Hi. I work in LA. We had some discussion with the HSE re elderly residents falling and sustaining serious injuries e.g. broken bones. Result was that if it is our fault that they fell - e.g. tripped over a cable left trailing, on a wet floor loose carpet etc. then it would be reportable as we have control and it is thus a preventable accident. On the other hand if the resident falls over because of frailty, or an illness then it is not preventable and thus we should not report it. If in doubt check with your local HSE officer.

hope this helps
.