1. What Is An Accident?
An accident is “an unfortunate occurrence that happens unexpectedly and unintentionally, typically resulting in an injury”.
As with many health and safety topics, there is a lot of misunderstanding about accidents at work, whether it’s what to report or worrying about being blamed and/or disciplined.
So to clarify, we are not talking about paper cuts or broken fingernails. The rule of thumb is that if first aid has to be applied, then it is an accident which has to be recorded. And yes, paper cuts do sometime require plasters, but common sense should apply here!
The HSE (Health and Safety Executive, www.hse.gov.uk) states that only accidents which result in the incapacitation of a worker for more than three days need to be reported. However, we advise that it is good practice to record all accidents which require first aid.
For guidance about the first aid provision you should have in place, there is a separate section on First Aid in this guide.
Lots of recorded accidents means we could get into trouble
Instead of worrying about what might happen, take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Why are accidents recorded? Not to get anyone into trouble, but to gather valuable information about the state of health and safety in an organisation. (And of course also to prevent further accidents, but this is covered in Section 3 – How to investigate accidents and incidents).
When conducting an annual audit of a health and safety system, a consultant will look at the accident records for two principal reasons:
- Are similar types of accidents occurring repeatedly?
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- This could be an indication that there is an issue that needs addressing. Relevant risk assessments may need to be amended and/or updated.
- Is the same person (or persons) being reported as having accidents?
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- Is the organisation’s training provision sufficient? Does the person involved require additional support?
Analysing accident / near miss reports is a useful indicator of the overall efficacy of the health and safety system.
And showing that the accident numbers are decreasing year-on-year (or month on month) is a good way of showing that the organisation’s health and safety performance is improving.
A word of warning
Beware of crowing about your accident numbers. There has been a trend for some industries to proudly boast “862 days since our last accident”. Who wants to be the person to stop this progress by reporting an accident on day 863? This sort of announcement, clearly intended to show what a great health and safety record they have, is a dangerous deterrent, dissuading people from reporting minor accidents and skewing the statistics. Accidents happen.
Health and Safety Myth
No plasters in the first aid box
An employee had cut her finger in the workplace and a colleague tried to obtain a plaster from the first aid kit, but there were none. The employee asked a manager if they could restock them, but she replied that due to health and safety reasons e.g. allergies, plasters were no longer supplied for the first aid kit. The employee has since heard of other cases in workplaces that will not stock plasters in their first aid kits for similar reasons.
There is no health and safety regulation which bans the provision of plasters, in fact HSE's own guidance recommends that a first aid box should stock plasters. If the concern is about the small risk of allergic reaction to some types of plaster, then this can be easily managed by stocking the hypoallergenic variety or simply asking the person being treated if they are allergic to plasters before they are applied.