Report an Accident at Work

There are many injuries and illnesses which must be reported and the following, while not exhaustive, will give examples from the retail trade of incidents which would be reported:

• Death, major injury (amputation, broken limbs, dislocations)

• Injury which results in absence from work for seven days or more *please note this has changed since April 2012 when the trigger point for reporting is over seven days instead of over 3 days.

• Back and limb injuries due to lifting, contact with moving equipment etc

• Diseases of the lung or skin resulting from exposure at work

• Infections such as Hepatitis resulting from work related exposure

• Dangerous Occurrences such as the accidental release of dangerous substances, or Near Misses, which would have other than by good fortune, required reporting.

• An accident to a non-employee (e.g. a customer) if they are killed or taken to hospital.

Reporting an accident

Notification should be made by using the useful links on the right hand side of this page.

However, in the event of death or major injury, contact the Environmental Health division as soon as possible.  Details must then be provided to the Incident Contact Centre.

An Accident Book, although not required under Health and Safety legislation, (they are a requirement of Social Security legislation) can be a suitable method of discharging the duty to the employer to record any use of the First Aid provision and of recording their reporting action under RIDDOR.

A new edition of the Accident Book (No B1 510) was issued in May 2003. To comply with the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) personal details entered in accident books must be kept confidential.

The new Accident Book has been redesigned so that individual record sheets can be removed and stored securely.  This will help you to keep personal information in confidence.

An Accident Book known as a Form BI 510 can be bought from most good bookshops