Health and Safety Update (Sept 2008)
Accident reporting
Many employers will not be aware of what to do in the event of a
workplace accident - who should be informed and how should it be
done. Read on and find a brief outline of your duties.
The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences
Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR) place a legal duty on employers to report
some work-related incidents. You can report incidents in a variety
of ways - by telephone, fax, via the internet or by post.
In the first instance we recommend that you call our advice
line to clarify if indeed the incident is reportable and to get the
necessary phone numbers, web addresses, etc.
You must report:
- deaths;
- major injuries;
- over 3-day injuries – where an employee or self-employed person
is away from work or unable to perform their normal work duties for
more than 3 consecutive days;
- injuries to members of the public or people not at work where
they are taken from the scene of an accident to hospital;
- some work-related diseases;
- dangerous occurrences – where something happens that does not
result in an injury, but could have done;
- some gas incidents.
What are major injuries?
- Fracture, other than to fingers, thumbs and toes;
- Amputation;
- Dislocation of the shoulder, hip, knee or spine;
- Loss of sight (temporary or permanent);
- Chemical or hot metal burn to the eye or any penetrating injury
to the eye;
- Injury resulting from an electric shock or electrical burn
leading to unconsciousness, or requiring resuscitation or
admittance to hospital for more than 24 hours;
- Any other injury leading to hypothermia, heat-induced illness
or unconsciousness or requiring resuscitation or requiring
admittance to hospital for more than 24 hours;
- Unconsciousness caused by asphyxia or exposure to harmful
substance or biological agent;
- Acute illness requiring medical treatment, or loss of
consciousness arising from absorption of any substance by
inhalation, ingestion or through the skin;
- Acute illness requiring medical treatment where there is reason
to believe that this resulted from exposure to a biological agent
or its toxins or infected material.
Reportable over-three-day injuries
If there is an accident connected with work and your employee,
or a self-employed person working on your premises, suffers an
over-three-day injury you must report it to the enforcing authority
within ten days.
An over-3-day injury is one which is not a major injury but
results in the injured person being away from work OR unable to do
their full range of their normal duties for more than three days
not including the day of the accident.
Record Keeping
It is the duty of every employer to retain records of reportable
accidents. Any information specifically referring to an accident
must be held for at least three years. It is strongly recommended
by the enforcing authorities that such records are kept in an
easily-retrievable format. The minimum information to be kept
should include:
- the date, time and place of incident;
- the name and job of the injured or ill person;
- details of the injury/illness and any first aid given;
- what happened to the casualty immediately afterwards (for
example, "went back to work", "went home", "went to hospital")
- the name and signature of the person dealing with the
incident.
This information can help identify accident trends and possible
areas for improvement in the control of health and safety
risks.
Accident Book
This is a good starting point for accident investigation. You
must use the new design of accident book, which allows for
accidents to be recorded, with personal details stored separately
in a secure location.
Noise and the entertainment industry guidance published by
HSE
The Sound Advice web site and Sound Advice HSG 260
publication, were launched on 11 July 2008.
There is practical advice on controlling noise at work in the
music and entertainment sectors. There are also examples of good
practice to help you as the employer to avoid the harmful effects
to employees of prolonged exposure to noise.
This publication is useful to employers who are involved in
music and entertainment, including concert halls and theatres,
amplified live music venues, pubs / clubs and studios.