New injury reporting rules will undermine effectiveness of HSE
Changes to the way workplace injuries must be reported have been criticised by a local employment law specialist.
From this month employers no longer need to report injuries to the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) unless they are severe enough to stop workers from performing their normal duties for more than seven days. But Robert Williams, a Partner with leading Oswestry and North Wales law firm GHP Legal, believes the move will massively weaken the role of the HSE.
“Until now the HSE has gathered vital information which has formed the basis for monitoring the effectiveness of health and safety protocols in the workplace,” says Mr Williams. “From now on, however, injuries such as losing the odd finger will fail to make it onto the HSE’s national database - though undoubtedly such incidents will still find their way onto the insurance industry records.
“The pressure on employees to be back at work before the report deadline is strong enough as it is, particularly in cases where the employer is a sub-contractor with performance indicators to satisfy that include down-time through injury. Now there will be even more pressure on those employees.”
“I would suggest that any injured employee keeps their own records of any investigations into the incident. Similarly employer clients should not let their standards drop because there is no need to report to the HSE. They should make sure that they remain as meticulous in their investigation and documentation of all such incidents.”
