Accidents in the Workplace

The How and Why of Accident Investigation

1.30 – Introduction 1.45 – Investigating Accidents and Incidents –

HSG245 2.45 – Break for refreshments 3.00 – Selection of Accidents For Investigation by

Enforcement Authorities and the Enforcement Management Model (EMM)

3.30 – The Insurance Industry Perspective 3.55 – Accident Investigation The View from the Top 4.10 – Q & A / discussions 4.30 - Close

Agenda for the Afternoon

Definitions◦ Accident - an event that results in injury or ill

health ◦ Near miss - an event that, while not causing

harm, has the potential to cause injury or ill health

◦ Uncontrolled hazard (undesired circumstance) - a set of conditions or circumstances that have the potential to cause injury or ill health

What is an Accident/Incident?

1.1 million working people were suffering from a work-related illness

173 workers killed at work 111 000 other injuries to

employees were reported under RIDDOR

212 000 over-3-day absence injuries occurred

27 million working days were lost due to work-related illness and workplace injury

Workplace injuries and ill health (excluding cancer) cost society an estimated £13.4 billion in 2010/11

The Cost of Accidents to Industry

www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/

Annual Figures 2011/2012

An OPPORTUNITY not to be missed!You want to find out...... What happened? Who was involved? Why it happened? – what were the events

leading to the accident? Has it happened before? Has it nearly happened before? How can you stop it happening again? Why did a failure occur? What can you learn about your H&S

management system – how can it be improved?

Why Investigate.........?

When you think you need to! Decisions based on

◦ Severity of consequences (actual or potential)◦ Likelihood of it happening again◦ Your duty to your employees◦ Your legal obligations...to be

discussed further

When to Investigate.....?

?

Accident book Accident frequency Patterns and trends Insurance claims Prosecution Management and Development

Opportunities Improvement/investment identification

Keeping Records

RIDDOR requirements Insurance company informed – N.B. their

notification guidelines should be followed Solicitors Police

Reporting Accidents

!

Know what to do when it happens Take the guess work out of it Keep consistent Clear responsibilities Clear lines of reporting Have an investigation template

ready to use Clear procedure to follow – step-by-step Policy for what to report, when, how, to

whom and when to investigate Who should be involved

Know Your System

RespondInvestigateConclude

RecommendAct

ReviewLearn!