Accidents, injuries and dangerous occurrences

Introduction
Work related injuries
Reporting of injuries, disease, and dangerous occurrences
Investigations and lesson learnt

Introduction

The causes of accidents and dangerous occurrences are due to a state of mind and conditions of work.

Each year approximately 20,000 injuries are reported to local authorities. In the UK an estimated 1.5 million work related injuries and two million work related illness affect businesses. Visit HSE's statistics publications to see the most up to date statistical data on accidents and injuries at work.

Work related injuries

Work related injuries include:

Head injury
Back injury
Electrocution
Sprains
Hearing loss
Lacerations
Heat Burns
Chemical burns
Gassing
Amputations
Respiratory Damage
Dermatitis
Dislocation
Eye Injury
Fractures
Strains
Cuts

Manual handling injuries and injuries due to slips, trips and falls are the most common in the workplace. Violence at work has been identified as an increasing problem.

Reporting of injuries, disease, and dangerous occurrences

The law requires the following work-related incidents to be reported:

Deaths
Major injuries
Over-three-day injuries (where an employee or self-employed person has an accident and the person is away from work or unable to work normally for more than three days)
Injuries to members of the public where they are taken to hospital
Work related diseases
Dangerous occurrences where something happens that does not result in a reportable injury but could have done

Visit Riddor for more details.

Investigations and lessons learnt

Employers should appropriately invistigate all accidents and near misses. They should use the lessons learnt to improve their risk management systems.

For practical guidance on this topic see HSG245 Investigating accidents and Incidents, ISBN 0 7176 2827 2. It is available from HSE's publications and costs £9.50.