Accident reporting

Accident reporting has been made mandatory under the Act RIDDOR '95. The RIDDOR Act came into being on 1st April 1996 and stands for the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations.

If you are an employer, self-employed or in control of work premises, you have duties, under the regulations of RIDDOR, to report some work-related accidents, diseases and dangerous occurrences. A timely accident reporting enables the enforcing authorities to identify where and how risks arise and to investigate serious accidents. The enforcing authorities can then help and advise you on precautionary action to reduce injury, ill health and accidental loss.

For most businesses accident reporting is comparatively a rare event but knowing the Law and following its regulations pays by all means. Reporting of accidents and ill health at work is a legal requirement. The information collected through the reporting enables the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and local authorities to investigate serious accidents.

Accident reporting includes, the reporting of the following incidents:

· Deaths
· Major injuries
· Accidents resulting in over 3 days off work
· Diseases
· Dangerous occurrences

As an employer, you have to comply with the law and abide by the regulations set by RIDDOR' 95. There are also sound business reasons for paying absolute attention to workplace health and safety, and ensuring an appropriate expertise, which can help you with proper implementation of RIDDOR.

Though the employer can maintain a record accidents and ill health cases in any form he desires but most of them require a lot of paperwork. The reporting can be done in a variety of ways, by telephone, fax, via the Internet, or by post, making it more convenient for you. Accident reporting must include the date and method of reporting: the date, time and place of the event, personal details of those involved and a brief description of the nature of the event or disease.

The accident and work related illness-reporting procedure, which has been in place since 1996 has been simplified and offers a facility to report all cases to a single point - the Incident Contact Centre (ICC), based at Caerphilly. Accident and Work-related ill-health forms consist of a single sheet with instructions and advice for completion on the reverse. When completed, the accident reporting form must be sent to the Safety Office where staff will ensure that copies are forwarded to the relevant people, including the Head of Department.

Workplace injury and ill health are expensive, which result in losing your most valuable resource i.e. employee. The accidents, which are otherwise unavoidable could damage and disrupt plant and processes and waste companies time and resources. But a well-timed accident reporting can avoid most of these expenses. Our Health & SafetySmart is specially designed to ease up the reporting process.

Accident reporting includes: the reporting of diseases that include:

· Certain poisonings;
· Some skin diseases such as occupational dermatitis, skin cancer, chrome ulcer, oil folliculitis /acne;
· Lung diseases including: occupational asthma, farmer's lung, pneumoconiosis, asbestosis,  mesothelioma;
· Infections such as: leptospirosis; hepatitis; tuberculosis; anthrax; legionellosis and tetanus;
· Other conditions such as: occupational cancer; certain musculoskeletal disorders; decompression illness and hand-arm vibration syndrome.
· Dangerous occurrence

There is clear evidence that companies, which successfully manage health and safety and abide by the Law, are also successful businesses. If you or a member of the public is injured while you are working on your own premises, or if you have a work-related disease or condition, then you need to prepare for an accident reporting.

• Health and safety at work
  Health and Safety at work law imposes a responsibility on the employer to ensure safety at the workplace for all employees.
  
  
• Health and safety audit
  Health and Safety Audit undertaken by a company helps it to identify, monitor and reduce any potential risks associated with unsuitable equipment and procedures.
  
  
• Health and safety legislation
  Health and safety legislation is aimed at safety in the workplace including consumer safety in the service area.
  
  
• Health and safety regulations
  Health and safety regulations, failure to comply with these regulations could lead to prosecution or the closure of your business.
  
  
• Health and safety information
  Health and safety information is a mandatory aspect of legislation which requires employees to ensure health and safety in the workplace.
  
  
• Accident reporting
  Accident reporting is mandatory under the RIDDOR act 1995 for most companies this is a rare act but knowing the law and following it, pays.
  
  
• COSHH - Control of substances hazardous to health
  COSHH stands for the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health and is about gathering information on all products.
  
  
• RIDDOR
  RIDDOR stands for the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995.