Accident on Duty

[mazza111]

Just a reminder to anyone who has an accident on duty to make sure it's written/reported as it should be.


November 2007 - Accident on duty where I slipped on wet leaves and fell down some stairs. Reported it to manager the next day, he says, I'll get you in the office tomorrow, really busy today and we'll do an accident report. Next couple of days, I was off sick due to the AOD.Despite asking about it on return, the accident report never got completed. Manager said he was going to do it....... Going to, the famous last words in RM. Keeping in mind I had only been in the job for 5 weeks and didn't know their procedures.

Roll on to November 2011. Yes, RM have it on record that I was off sick due to a knee injury, not that it was an AOD. I have now got severe arthritis in knee, due to this accident, and because the manager didn't do his job properly it will probably do me out of my industrial injuries benefit. If only I knew then what I know now eh? If only I had found this site back then.

Well, I'm not posting to get a lecture on what should have been done, as I know that now, but just to let other newbies know so that if the worse happens and they have an accident to make sure it's all recorded. No matter what!

[flaminmoses]

ive had several not recorded.

"thats not an accident...its a near miss" etc

couple of times ive fallen over when i joined and they were recorded

[packmule]

Its never a accident only an incident

Waste of space all of em :ncfo :vcfo :dcfo

[keithposty]

accident is an occurence

an incident is a near miss

dont fall for this incident crap

royal mail have to report the accident on the erica syatem within 24 hours, or 48 on the weekend

if the injury lasts for more than three days, it triggers a riddor

these are legal requirement

[brothermagrew]

Hmmm

'Adverse event' - includes:

Accident: an event that results in injury or ill health;

Incident:
Near miss: an event that, while not causing harm, has the potential to cause injury or ill health;
Undesired circumstance: a set of conditions or circumstances that have the potential to cause injury or ill health, e.g. untrained nurses handling heavy patients.

Then you could go on with:

Risk: The level of risk is determined from a combination of the likelihood of a specific undesirable event occurring and the severity of the consequences (i.e. how often it is likely to happen, how many people could be affected and how bad would the likely injuries or ill health effects be?).

Risk control measures: are the workplace precautions put in place to reduce the risk to a tolerable level?

Root cause: an initiating event or failing from which all other causes or failings spring. Root causes are generally management, planning or organisational failings.

Underlying cause: the less obvious 'system' or 'organisational' reason for an adverse event happening, e.g. pre-start-up machinery checks are not carried out by supervisors; the hazard has not been adequately considered via a suitable and sufficient risk assessment; production pressures are too great etc.

Dangerous occurrence: one of a number of specific, reportable adverse events, as defined in the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR).

Hazard: the potential to cause harm, including ill health and injury; damage to property, plant, products or the environment, production losses or increased liabilities.

Immediate cause: the most obvious reason why an adverse event happens, e.g. the guard is missing; the employee slips etc. There may be several immediate causes in any one adverse event.

One of the best if not thee best publication is the following - Investigating accidents and incidents - A workbook for employers, unions, safety representatives and safety professionals ISBN 0 7176 2827 2.

[mazza111]

Hence why I posted it Keith. To make sure other new posties don't fall into the same trap. I had only been in the job for a month. No mention of ERICA, RIDDOR or anything. I even asked on my return to work if it should be reported in an accident book or something, manager said he would do it..... I spoke to HR the other day and they have told me he should also have advised me to report it to DWP. And believe it or not, this was one of the manager I considered an all right guy, especially when I read about some of the management on here. Always report ANY accident and make sure it's recorded in all the right places. No putting it off until tomorrow like they did with me.

The thing that's annoying me about it is, there's no way now to prove my accident, even though there is no book that RM employees can fill in accidents by themselves, we're relying on inept management doing it. After all how many postie's have access to the intranet at work? Surely there should be some sort of system in place like an accident book that employees can fill out by themselves without the management, so there's a hard copy if the management f*ck up.

[TeeferTiger]

And there's me, making sure they got reported and then I get a letter from the regional safety manager saying they were concerned because I'd had 2 accidents in 2 years.

The first was uneven pavement-went over on my ankle and sprained my knee.

The second was due to the new magnum footwear. Slipped on a path and landed like a sack of spuds on my left hand side. Luckily I had a good CWU rep who told me to tell the DWP about it.