Accident reporting in the hospitality industry
Employers in the hotel and catering industry have a duty to report and record certain details regarding accidents. The duty arises as employers and as owners or occupiers of premises.
There are two regimes for recording accidents:
recording accidents in an accident book to comply with social security legislation and potential payment of industrial injuries benefit
accidents or incidents of a more serious nature have to be notified and reported to the appropriate enforcing authority. The regulation that imposes this requirement is the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995, known as RIDDOR.
What has to be reported under RIDDOR?
Event Explanation Fatalities Accidents causing injuries that result in death Major injuries Major injuries include: fractures (other than to fingers, thumb, toes); a penetrating injury to the eye; any injury resulting from electric shock or electrical burn leading to unconsciousness or requiring resuscitation or admittance to hospital for more than 24 hours; and any other injury requiring admittance to hospital for more than 24 hours "Over three-day" injury An accident to an employee, contractor or self-employed person that results in the person being absent from work for more than three days (the day the accident happened is not counted) Hospitalisation of non-employee Accidents in the workplace to non-employees (such as customers and contractors) where the person is taken from the employer's premises to the hospital as a result of the injuries sustained Dangerous occurrence For example, an electrical short circuit that results in plant or equipment being shut down for 24 hours or which has the potential to cause the death of any person Reportable disease For example, carpal tunnel syndrome Full details of the types of accident, injuries, dangerous occurrences and diseases are set out in RIDDOR.
Example of type of event that should be reported:
- a customer slips on food and falls and is taken to hospital as a result of the fall. The food was spilt earlier in the day and not cleaned up by the catering establishment
Example of event that is not reportable:
- a customer who suffers burns as a result of spilling their own food
Who has to report?
A person with appropriate authority and competence within the organisation should be designated as responsible for reporting. The regulations refer to the person who reports an event as being the responsible person. Specific people are designated responsible persons in the case of vehicles and driving operations.
How to report
The local authority has to be notified by the quickest practicable means (likely to mean a telephone call on the day of the accident or incident) and a written report has to be sent not later than 10 days after the event.
Reports can be submitted to the local council office or to the centralised RIDDOR reporting centre. In April 2001 a centralised centre for RIDDOR reporting was set up in Caerphilly, which allows for reports to be submitted via the internet or fax. For further details, visit www.riddor.gov.uk.
Keeping records
An employer is required to make and retain internal records in connection with the RIDDOR event for a period of three years following the incident. The records should contain:
- the date when the event was reported to the local authority and details on how it was reported
- the date, time and place of event
- the personal details of those involved
- a brief description of the nature of the event.
Penalties
An employer who fails to comply with RIDDOR may be liable on conviction to:
- a fine not exceeding level five on the standard scale, currently £5,000 in a magistrate's court
- an unlimited fine in a crown court.
Note: Accidents or incidents may have been caused by breaches of other health and safety legislation. The penalties for breaching other legislation may be heavier than those for failing to comply with RIDDOR.
Developments
In order to comply with the duty to review and revise risk assessments under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Act regulations 1999 (see article on risk assessment), employers are required to carry out internal investigations of reportable incidents. However, this does not always take place. Following a proposal by the Health and Safety Commission to introduce a compulsory duty to investigate the causes of RIDDOR events, this is likely to change. If the proposal is implemented, internal investigations will become an essential health and safety management requirement for all organisations.
by Roy Tozer
Roy Tozer is a partner in the regulatory group at law firm DLA.
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