Workplace accident reporting 'should be more practical'

Date: 4/5/2011

Road crashes that are work-related and result in an injury that requires an employee to be taken to the accident and emergency department at a hospital should be investigated by employers.

Such is the suggestion of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), which claims that a greater focus needs to be placed on the duty of business superiors to record and examine any injuries or incidents of ill health, among other issues, so that they can learn from them and take care to avoid similar situations in the future.

It adds that documenting these cases should be proportionate and would not unduly overload employers with paperwork, but that the records would then be available should they be required by enforcing authorities.

Roger Bibbings, RoSPA's Occupational Safety Adviser, says: "RoSPA would suggest that efforts to reduce burdens on business in this area should focus on helping organisations to improve their management of health and safety and thus avoid the heavy costs to which accidents and incidents usually give rise."

Last month, the organisation advised motorcyclists to consider additional training in order to refresh their skills before hitting the roads.

Posted by Sarah Bailey