What is a Work Accident?
A work accident is an accident that results in health damage or death of an employee. The employer is obliged for work accidents and incidents to:
- allow employees to report a work accident
- keep a book of accidents, where it records all accidents in the company, their details and documentation
- clarify the causes and circumstances of the work accident
- report serious work accidents, diseases and dangerous incidents to the relevant office
Examples of Work Accidents
- serious injuries, such as fractures
- dangerous incidents, such as scaffolding collapse, gas poisoning
- any other injury that prevents an employee from performing regular work for more than three days
- death
How Employees Report a Work Accident
Employees can submit work accident reports electronically using a form from the employee helpdesk. A simple form is available to employees to report a work accident. All their reported work accidents, along with other requests, are visible to both the employee and the manager, who then accepts and resolves them.
Record the details in the company accident book
Workplaces are legally obliged to have an accident book. Details of the incident need to be accurately recorded including:
- The name, gender, date of birth and job title of the injured party
- The date of the accident
- The details of what and how the incident occurred
- Specific injury details
- If the injured party is pregnant
- The name and job title of the person logging the details
- The information lodged in the accident book should be used to help improve health and safety standards and procedures in the company, to avoid future similar accidents from happening.
Conducting a Formal Investigation
A formal investigation into the cause of the accident should be carried out as soon as possible. This includes taking witness statements and photographing the area where the work accident occurred. It is also important to investigate what caused the accident:
- employee error
- incorrect workplace equipment
- incorrect or improperly used work aids
- missing protective work aids
- incorrectly used or inappropriate technology
- insufficient or incorrect training
- non-compliance with the work procedure
- failure of equipment or workplace equipment
How to Reduce the Risk of Work Accidents
The likelihood of work accidents and incidents can be reduced in several ways:
- proper training of employees
- correct equipment with personal protective aids
- correctly equipped tools and tools
- correctly equipped and safe workplace