Reporting an Accident / Incident / Near Miss

ALL staff must report any Accidents, Incidents or Near Misses to their Line Manager. However, only line managers or an *authorised member of staff can log an accident/incident online.

*Authorised Person: A person nominated by the Manager to input accidents/incidents.

 If an Accident/Incident/Near Miss occurs to an employee in a location other than their workplace, then the injured person must inform their manager. The injured person’s manager would then liaise with the manager/authorised person from the premises that the accident/incident occurred.

 If an Accident/Incident/Near Miss occurs to someone who does not work for the Council, then it would be the responsibility of the manager/authorised person from that premises to log the incident.

Example: A pupil slips by the poolside of a leisure centre; the Leisure Centre Manager/Authorised person must report this online. If it involves a pupil, the school also have a duty to inform the parent/guardian of the accident/incident.

 If an Accident/Incident/Near Miss involves a member of the public, the manager/authorised staff member from the specific department where it occurred should record the accident/incident/near miss.

Report all accidents and incidents involving:

• employees
• pupils
• service users
• contractors
• visitors
• tenants
• councillors
• agency workers
• work experience person/s
• trainees
• members of public

 All Accidents/Incidents should be reported within 10 days.

Any fatalities should be reported immediately by contacting the Health & Safety Unit.
 If, once the form is submitted an employee absence is over 7 days, then your departmental Health & Safety Advisor should be contacted as this would need to be notified to the Health and Safety Executive.

All accidents/incidents/Near Misses must be reported via our e-form.

To report an Accident/Incident/Near Miss, the following information will be required:

• Injured persons Forename, Surname, Date Of Birth & Employee No. (where applicable)
• As much information as possible with regards to the Accident/Incident: e.g.
  • Who was injured?
  • What happened?
  • Where did the Accident/Incident/Near Miss occur?
  • When did it occur?
  • Why did it occur?
• Photographs, witness testimony's and statements, risk assessments (where applicable), etc.

You will need to click ‘save’ when completing the form, you can then go back into the home screen, click on ‘My saved accidents/incidents’ and here you can upload photographs, Risk Assessments and witness testimony’s as appropriate.

To resubmit any saved documents click on ‘My saved Accidents/Incidents’ on the home screen, then click on ‘view’ work through to the end of the form and click on ‘resubmit’.

Where possible, the address of the injured person should be recorded.

If you are away from your desk or are not one of the elected administrators within a school you must still record the details of an accident or incident. We have a provided a template (AIR form) for you to download to record the details of the accident or incident, it also includes guidance on the information you need to provide.

Please note: The information you record on this sheet must be uploaded to our e-form as soon as possible.

Download: AIR Form Template (.doc)

 Once you have submitted the form, you will receive an email of the form in PDF format

 You should keep a copy of the form in a central location so that it can be accessed by the authorised person if you are unavailable. e.g. on the Council File Plan.

 A copy of the submitted form is also available to view/print in PDF format via the ‘docs’ button next to submitted accident forms.

All employees who have sustained a work-related injury must be referred to Occupational Health following consultation with the Health and Safety Centre.

You should also contact them if you need advice regarding any amended duties or reasonable adjustments before or after an employee returns to work.

They can also offer advice and support if you have concerns regarding an employee who witnessed an accident/incident.

Note: If you experience an application time-out error when reporting an accident or incident please copy the link into your browser.

If you need further advice contact your departmental Health & Safety advisor.

Headteachers or others in schools that need to report an accident / incident via the LA's Accident Reporting online system, will need to have registered with Azure system before completing the e-form on PORTH.

Please see Register for the Azure system for further instructions.

Some incidents do not need to be reported to the LA via the online system and should be recorded locally (via the Schools Accident reporting book or other).

Incidents that do not require reporting to the LA via the online system include:

• Minor injuries to pupils that typically require first aid treatment only.
• Accidents that are clearly a result of play activities.
• Childhood Illnesses.
• Injuries resulting from fights between pupils.
• Incidents involving bullying or harassment of pupils.

If you are having difficulty accessing the online Accident Reporting System, please contact the IT Helpdesk on 01267 246789.  If you have access but cannot view the Accidents system icon, you will need to contact the IT Helpdesk and request this.

RIDDOR reportable incidents are those which must be reported by law to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) this applies to employees, self-employed, trainees and contractors. Any fatality or injury to a member of the public resulting in offsite medical treatment is also reportable.

What is reportable?

• Major accident
• Cases of diagnosed industrial disease
• Dangerous Occurrence (near miss incidents)
• Over 7 days’ lost time injury
• Fatality

Who to contact

You must contact the Health and Safety Centre Immediately on 01267 246088. You should also complete the accident form in the usual way & a safety advisor will report to the HSE where appropriate.