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Your employer has a duty to protect you and tell you about health and safety issues that affect you. They also have a legal responsibility to report certain accidents and incidents, pay you statutory sick pay, or contractual sick pay if you are entitled to it and give you time off because of an accident at work should you need it.

Reporting an accident at work

Your employer must report serious work-related accidents, diseases and dangerous incidents to the Health and Safety Executive. They must report:

• death
• major injuries, a broken arm or ribs for example
• dangerous incidents like the collapse of scaffolding, people overcome by gas
• any other injury that stops an employee from doing their normal work for more than three days
• disease

The reporting must be done by your employer, but if you’re involved it’s a good idea to make sure it’s been reported.

Who is responsible for health and safety at work?

Your employer has to carry out a risk assessment and do what’s needed to take care of the health and safety of employees and visitors. This includes deciding how many first aiders are needed and what kind of first aid equipment and facilities should be provided.

First aiders have no statutory right to extra pay, but some employers do offer this. Employees must also take reasonable care over their own health and safety.

Recording accidents

Any injury at work – including minor injuries – should be recorded in your employer’s ‘accident book’. All employers must keep an accident book. It’s mainly for the benefit of employees, as it provides a useful record of what happened in case you need time off work or need to claim compensation later on. But recording accidents also helps your employer to see what’s going wrong and take action to stop accidents in future.

Sick pay

In most cases, if you need time off because of an accident at work, you’ll only have the right to Statutory Sick Pay. Your employer may have a scheme for paying more for time off caused by accidents, or may decide to pay extra depending on what has happened.

What should you do next if you have an accident?

• make sure you record any injury in the ‘accident book’
• if need be, make sure your employer has reported it to the Health and Safety Executive
• check your contract or written statement of employment for information about sick or accident pay
• if there’s a dispute, try to sort it out with your employer
• if there are health and safety problems at work, point them out to your employer or the employee safety representative.

Depending on the situation, you may or may not need all the steps listed below, but you should follow this outline in nearly all situations:

1. Get to a safe place Regardless of the situation, getting to a safe place after an accident will help prevent any additional accidents of injuries from occurring. This will allow you to assess the situation and proceed.
2. Assess the situation Is anyone injured? Has any property been damaged? Do you need to call 999? Answering these basic questions will determine your next steps.
3. Call for help In any case of injury, getting professional help immediately will minimise the risks of the situation and prevent injuries from getting worse. Know your limits. If anything beyond very simple first aid is required, always get professionals involved right away.
4. Assist the injured Provide first aid where possible; stabilise those with major injuries.
5. Get information Record the details of the accident while they are fresh in your mind. Time can change the way you view the situation and your memory of it, so write down all information immediately. Get contact information from others involved whenever possible and witness statements.
6. Keep the evidence Never destroy potential evidence in an attempt to prevent further accidents. Always keep people away from potentially hazardous equipment, but do not discard or destroy it.
7. Prevent further accidents Following an accident, you should quickly take action to assess the situation to prevent any further injuries.
8. Follow up File the appropriate paperwork as required in your health and safety file and inform the insurance company if necessary.

Work will begin today on the road infrastructure in Telford town centre to aid the £450m redevelopment of Southwater and Telford Shopping Centre.

Work will start with improvements to Malinslee Roundabout which are expected to be completed by February 2014 in time for the opening of the new ASDA store and the Southwater development.

The Highways Agency will also be installing traffic lights on the Forge roundabout and widening the carriageway around the island to three lanes to improve traffic flow to and from the M54 with the aim of reducing queues on to the motorway. The work will be completed before March 2014.

Work to make the Box Road two way will be completed by March 2015 with each section of the road opened to two way traffic when completed.

The PPE Regulations 1992, Regulation 4 states:

‘Every employer shall ensure that suitable personal protective equipment is provided to his employees who may be exposed to a risk to their health or safety while at work, except where and to the extent that, such risk has been adequately controlled by other means which are equally or more effective’.

This means in practice that PPE should only be used as a last resort but can be used in conjunction with other control measures. The PPE Regulations 1992 are supplemented by PPE requirements in other regulations such as those relating to asbestos, lead, noise and hazardous chemicals.

The PPE Regulations 1992 also require you make sure that:

• The PPE is assessed for suitability.
• It is compatible with other types of PPE that is also needed.
• It is properly maintained and cleaned.
• Accommodation e.g. a locker or bag, is provided for it to prevent damage or contamination.
• Training is provided for your staff so that they know how to wear the PPE, any restrictions on use and how it protects them.

By virtue of Section 9 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, no charge can be made to your staff for the provision of PPE which is used only at work, so you need to provide this for them.

Why PPE Fails and What You Must Do 

Even though PPE is provided, accidents still happen. This is because:

• The wrong PPE is provided and does not protect the worker e.g. a respirator for dust is      provided when the hazard is a vapour.
• The worker does not wear the PPE, maybe because it’s not comfortable.
• The PPE does fit properly.
• The PPE is not compatible with other types of PPE.
• The PPE is broken or poorly maintained.

You should:

• Properly assess your PPE and make sure it’s suitable.
• Choose good quality products which are CE marked.
• Choose equipment that suits the wearer and is comfortable – consider the size, fit and weight.
• Instruct and train people on how to use it.
• Supervise people and never allow exemptions for those jobs that only ‘take a few minutes’.

It’s very easy to think that once PPE is provided, the job is done – in practice, it’s only just begun. Take action now to prevent PPE accidents in your workplace.

If you need advice, contact us…