Reporting accidents at work, 1
Page 59
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IE FACTORIES ACT has always 4uired certain accidents at ark to be reported but from nuary 1, 1981, new law, conned in the Notification of Acciants and Dangerous :currences Regulations 1980, als with this subject.
These Regulations make -ther accidents and dangerous currences notifiable for the St time. One major change is a Quirement that fatal and major ury accidents to members of a public, which occur in the urse of work, have to be reirted.
For example, if a pedestrian as struck and seriously injured
• an iron girder which was beg unloaded from a lorry, the -,:ident would have to be noti
d.
The Regulations divide accifits into three categories:
1 fatal; (2) major injury accints; and (3) accidents to emayees which result in more an three consecutive days abnce from work.
Only accidents in categories I and (2) have to be directly ported. In the case of the lessrious accidents (3), and most cidents fall within this class, e employer does not have to form the enforcing authority rect.
He only has to give details of e accident on Form BI 76, hich will be sent to him by the cal office of the Department of aalth and Social Security, hen the employee concerned aims industrial injury benefit. If an employee dies from injuas received in an accident ithin twelve months of the :cident, the employer must • ovide a written report of the rcumstances of the incident, ough it had previously been ported as not being fatal.
An employer must take asonable steps to keep himself formed of the progress of any :riously injured former emoyee in case the injuries turn it to be fatal.
ategory (2): Major injuries are 3fined in the Regulations as
one which causes a fracture of the skull, spine or pelvis; a fracture of any bone in the arm other than a bone in the wrist or hand; a fracture of any bone in the leg other than a bone in the ankle or foot; amputation of a hand or foot; the loss of the sight of an eye; or any other injury which results in a person being admitted as an in-patient into a hospital for more than 24 hours, unless that person is detained for observation only.
As well as fatal and major injuries, "dangerous occurrences" have to be reported, even though no one is injured. Dangerous occurrences which are notifiable are listed in Schedule 1 of the Regulations. The Schedule is divided into four parts, Part I applies to occurrences wherever they may happen; Part II applies to occurrences in mines; Part III at quarries, and Part IV on railways.
The incidents which must be reported and which are likely to be of interest to CM readers include:
(a) The collapse or overturning of any lift, hoist or crane, excavator or mobile powered platform, or failure of any load bearing part which may have caused a major injury to any person.
(b) The explosion, collapse or bursting of any boiler or vessel containing a gas (including air) at a pressure greater than at mospheric which might have caused major injury to any perso n or result in significant damage to plant.
(c) An electric short-circuit or overload involving fire which resulted in the stoppage of the plant for more than 24 hours or which might have caused major injury to any person.
(d) An explosion or fire resulting in stoppage or suspension of normal work for more than 24 hours if the fire has caused by the ignition of process materials, their by-products, or finished products.
(e) The sudden uncontrolled release of one tonne or more of highly flammable material (f) A collapse or partial collapse of any scaffolding which is more than 12m high.
(g) Any incident in which a person is affected by the inhalation, ingestion or other absorbtion of any substance, or by lack of oxygen, to such an extent as to cause acute ill-health requiring medical attention.
(h) Failure of any freight container or any load bearing part thereof while it is being lowered or suspended.
(i) The bursting, explosion or collapse of any pipeline or the ignition of anything in a pipeline.
(j) Any incident in which a road tanker to which the Hazardous Substances (Labelling of Road Tankers) Regulations 1978 ap
plies overturns or suffers serious damage to the tank in which the hazardous substance is being carried.
(k) The uncontrolled release or escape of any substance or agent in circumstances which, having regard to the nature of the substance or agent and the extent and location of the release or escape, might be liable to cause damage to the health of, or major injury to, any person.
This list is by no means exhaustive but it will give a general idea of the type of incident which needs reporting. A complete list will be found in the Health and Safety Executive's booklet The Notification of Accidents and Dangerous Occurrences, published by HMSO at E1.50.
This is a helpful publication which gives copy of the Regulations and guidance on how they should be interpreted. For example, when dealing with 110 above, the booklet points out that incidents involving spillages from containers lost while being carried on vehicles may require notification.
Such instances, it is said, may be due to faulty or unsuitable packaging, faulty loading or faulty operational procedures.
There are some important exemptions to the need for reporting accidents and dangerous occurrences. One of particuI a r importance to the cv operator is road traffic aecidents.
Because these accidents have to be reported to the police by reason of Section 25 of the Road Traffic Act 1972, it is not necessary to report them a second time to the HSE under the Notification of Accident and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations.
But where a person is killed or suffers major injury while engaged on work on or alongside a road as the result of the activities of another person engaged in work, the accident is reportable directly to the HSE.
• by Les Oldridge, TEng (CEI), MIMI