The accident book is the oldest record in workplace safety and the one most often kept badly, usually because it is treated as a formality rather than as the contemporaneous evidence it actually is. A claim or an enforcement question arrives long after the event, from somebody who was not there, and what answers it is what was written on the day. This page sets out when the book is required, what a workplace incident entry has to contain, and how the reporting procedure around it should be written down before you need it.
When the book is required, and why you should keep one anyway
Employers have duties to record specified workplace injuries, and social security rules require certain employers to keep an accident book for the purpose. Beyond the letter of it, the practical case is stronger: a contemporaneous entry, written on the day by somebody who was there, is far better evidence than a recollection reconstructed months later when a claim arrives. Firms below any threshold should keep one for the same reason.
What an entry has to contain, and the data protection detail people miss
Who was injured, when and where, what happened, what injury resulted, who recorded it and when. Modern accident books use detachable pages for a reason: an entry contains another person's health information, so a bound book that everybody can leaf through is a data protection problem as well as a safety one. Completed pages should be removed and stored securely, and access limited to the people who need it.
The reporting procedure is five steps and it should exist before you need it
Record as soon as practicable, in the book, by whoever was there. Decide whether it is reportable to the regulator, by a named person, within the required time. Investigate proportionately to what could have happened rather than to what did. Assign actions with owners and dates. Review the relevant risk assessment. Write those five down and put names against them, because the moment you need a procedure is the worst possible moment to invent one.
The four reports, and why they should not be one document
The internal record written at the time. The investigation report written afterwards. The statutory report to the regulator where the event is reportable. The insurance or claim notification. They have different readers, different deadlines and different purposes, and merging them produces a record written defensively, which is useless for learning. Keep the first one factual and let the others draw on it.
Questions people ask about when is an accident book required in the workplace
Do small employers need an accident book?
Recording duties apply widely and the practical case applies everywhere: an entry made on the day is evidence, and a memory is not. Even where a bound book is not strictly required, keep a consistent record of workplace injuries and near misses in one place.
How long should accident records be kept?
Longer than feels necessary. Claims can arrive years later and some occupational conditions develop slowly, so retention is usually measured in years rather than months and is longer again where health surveillance is involved. Decide a period, write it into your arrangements, and store the records so that they survive a change of system.
Who fills in the accident book?
Ideally the injured person or somebody who witnessed the event, as soon as practicable, with a named person responsible for checking it and deciding on reportability. An entry written by a manager days later from a second-hand account is the weakest version of the record.