How to Manage and Report Accidents at Work

If an accident happens at work and your first thought is paperwork, you’re doing health and safety wrong. 

Reporting accidents and near misses is vital to good business, and that begins with a ‘safety differently’ approach. A prevention before cure attitude. One that sees accidents reported immediately and investigated thoroughly. 

Time and time again we see accidents happen and fingers pointed. What is absolutely vital for your business is a health and safety culture that is open, honest and educated. How do you nurture this culture? You need the right tools. 

Where to document and register all accidents

You don’t need to over complicate matters here. Accidents and near misses should be registered in one convenient place that is easy to manage and draw upon when needed. 

The HazardCo app has been designed with just this in mind. All you need to do is login, report who was involved, if medical treatment was required and the details of what happened. The HazardCo accident support team are also on hand 24/7 to help you out. 

All of this information is then stored as an accident register on the HazardCo portal for you to access at any time. 

What accidents should you report

You should report any health and safety accidents or near misses that happen at work. This can be accidents that affect you, your staff, or anyone on site.

From minor to major, everyone deserves the right to know any threats relating to them in the workplace. Those affected by the accident are also entitled to a fair and formal record of what happened.

Why you should be reporting accidents

Every single worker plays a part in protecting ourselves and one another in the workplace. By reporting accidents you are helping identify areas where you can work together to improve health and safety, and potentially save lives.

Learning from accidents

We understand that it’s unrealistic to expect no accidents. They can – and do – happen. What’s important is that when they do, workers take time to review and learn from them.

Depending on the complexity of the accident, learning from it might be as simple as meeting with the team afterwards to figure out what went wrong, and what can be done to stop it from happening again.

Not your job?

Yes it is. And that’s why we are so proud of what we do. The HazardCo app and portal puts health and safety in everyone’s hands, so everyone is protecting their workforce and working safely.

People often think of accidents as something separate to a normal way of working and how work gets done. The fact is accidents often happen because of the way things get done. 

By reporting and investigating an accident, you will find the cause, but you are also likely to identify other areas where improvements can be made. Investigations aren’t about blame and punishment, but learning and improving.

No  workplace is perfect, and failure will occur. Let your workers know this, and that blame is off the table. This is about making sure everyone is safe and able to get on with the job at hand.

Educate to empower, and enable your workforce to #SortYourSafety today.