Incident reporting

The Company requires that all accidents and relevant incidents are reported promptly to the Health & Safety representative. Immediate electronic reporting is preferred with accident report forms sent to safety@hydrotech.uk.com. Reports should be completed within 48 hours and sent to the Health & Safety representative within 5 days.

For all accidents/incidents, the internal Accident Record Form must be completed.

It is a legal requirement for employers to monitor and review their health and safety arrangements, accident investigations form an essential part of this process.

All accidents should be investigated at the earliest opportunity to determine what (if any) action is needed to prevent a recurrence. The level of investigation should be proportionate to the severity of the incident. It is the potential consequence and likelihood of the incident recurring that should determine the level of investigation, not simply the injury suffered on this occasion.

For example: a utility strike may not have caused an injury but had the potential to cause major or fatal injury.

The appropriate line manager is responsible for investigating local accidents or incidents but depending on the investigation it may involve other managers and the health and safety representative.

A local investigation should be conducted if:

• A defined major injury has occurred;

• The injury is likely to result in the injured person being off work for more than 7 days;

• There has been a need to review a risk assessment;

• There is no risk assessment in place;

• The incident or near miss has a likelihood of occurring again if not controlled;

• The incident or near miss has the potential to cause damage or harm;

• A Dangerous Occurrence as defined in The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR).

The Health and Safety representative may also instigate an accident investigation on receipt of an Accident/Incident Report Form if it is deemed that more information is required to identify the root cause of the incident or for trend analysis.

The investigation findings should form the basis of an action plan to prevent the incident from recurring, improving the overall management of risk, and identifying elements of risk assessments that may need to be reviewed.

Where an employee is involved in a serious incident resulting in a fatality, a major injury (as defined below), an incident which causes incapacity for more than 7 days, a reportable dangerous occurrence or an occupational disease/condition, the Company has a statutory duty to report such incidents to the Health and Safety Executive. All reporting to the HSE is done via the Health & Safety Representative.

It is, therefore, essential that in these circumstances, Managers/Supervisors must notify the Health & Safety representative of an accident by the quickest possible means, i.e. telephone, so that the appropriate report form can be submitted to the HSE.

Reportable major injuries:

• Fracture, other than to fingers, thumbs and toes;

• Amputation;

• Dislocation of the shoulder, hip, knee or spine;

• Loss of sight (temporary or permanent);

• Chemical or hot metal burn to the eye or any penetrating injury to the eye;

• Injury resulting from an electric shock or electrical burn leading to unconsciousness, or requiring resuscitation or admittance to hospital for more than 24 hours;

• Any other injury leading to hypothermia, heat-induced illness or unconsciousness, or requiring resuscitation, or requiring admittance to hospital for more than 24 hours;

• Unconsciousness caused by asphyxia or exposure to a harmful substance or biological agent;

• Acute illness requiring medical treatment, or loss of consciousness arising from absorption of any substance by inhalation, ingestion or through the skin;

• Acute illness requiring medical treatment where there is reason to believe that this resulted from exposure to a biological agent or its toxins or infected material.

Over 7 day injuries, whereby the injured person is off work for more than seven consecutive days as the result of an occupational accident or injury (not counting the day of the accident but including weekends and rest days)

Additionally there is a requirement to report accidents to others not in employment (e.g. a member of the public, visitor, contractor, and pupil) if they suffer an injury as a result of an accident arising out of, or in connection with, work and are taken from the scene to a hospital.