Hi
Sent you some mail.
Dave

Dave C

I regularly read the posts on this discussion forum and generally find them most interesting and even learn something new.

I find it therefore disconcerting that some forum users send private answers to posts. Your answer on this subject could have enlightened me and perhaps other members. For example, it was through this discussion forum that I lean't that you have to keep all accident reports for school children for 3 years after they leave education, usually 18 years old hence til they are 21. This applies even if a child leaves the school at say age 11 and goes onto a different school.

Please do not take offence Dave just stating it as I see it.

Joe

Several different things are being asked here.

Health records - under COSHH both these and monitoring records of individual exposure have to be kept for 40 years.

Accident records - no legal requirement. I would keep them for 5 years (other than for the school situation mentioned below) 40 years worth is an awful lot of paper!

A delayed claim due to the long latency period of some health effects is quite likely. A delayed claim from an accident is much less likely. In my 15 years or so experience of dealing with EL claims the longest delay I ever came across in a health claim was about 60 years. I don't think I ever came across more than 3 years for an accident claim.

As for induction records, I would suggest that as an integral part of an employee's personnel and training records these do need to be kept for longer periods as they may be relevant in future health claims. At a previous employer we used to keep the paper copies of personnel / training / sickness absence files for 6 months after the employees left and then scan them onto disc and shred the originals. Prior to the introduction of scanning technology we kept the paper files indefinitely - and yes we did have over 100 years worth of records from at least 20 different factory sites!