Guidance Note 1-3(IRL)

ACCIDENT AND INCIDENT REPORTING

Introduction
Employers are required to report specific health and safety incidents to the Health and Safety
Authority (HSA). The reported incidents enable the Enforcing Authorities to track organisations
that fail to maintain good health and safety standards and to investigate any incidents should
they deem it necessary. The Health and Safety Authority produce statistical information from
these incidents, enabling them to target areas of high risk and introduce appropriate safety
campaigns (e.g. falls from height).

Legal Duty
Failure to report an injury or a dangerous occurrence in accordance with the regulations may
result in criminal prosecution. Prosecutions can result in fines and or imprisonment depending
on the seriousness of the breach or the incident’s outcome.

Compliance with the Requirements

All accidents, injuries, near miss incidents, and dangerous occurrences involving employees,
contractors and visitors on the organisation’s premises should be reported immediately to the
relevant supervisor or manager. Their initial action should be to ensure that any injured people
are being treated and to assess the scene of the incident to ensure that the potential risk of further
injury has been removed.
If the accident or incident is reportable you must ensure that it is reported to the HSA (follow
the flow chart overleaf).
Reportable incidents are those that cause:
 The death of a person at work.

 The death of a person not at work where the death is related to an accident or event at the
workplace.

 Prevent an employee from performing his normal work for more than three consecutive
days (excluding the day of the accident but including non-working days).

 A person not at work to receive treatment from a registered medical practitioner or

treatment in a hospital (in-patient or out-patient) for any injury or condition; or a
dangerous occurrence (a list of reportable dangerous occurrences is at appendix 1 of this
guidance note).

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 The basic steps for reporting and managing an accident

ACCIDENT OR INCIDENT

If safe to do so, remove or secure the hazard

from presenting further injuries or incidents

Was there any harm as a result of the

accident or incident?
(Injury or Fatality)

YES NO

Does the accident require Is the incident classed as a

immediate reporting to the dangerous occurrence reportable
Enforcing Authority? under the HSA reporting
(A Fatal Accident) requirements? (see appendix 1)

YE
NO YES NO
S

Immediately Report the incident to

Contact the HSA the Enforcing
by telephone Authority as soon as
practicable
Complete
Accident Book Prepare for possible
Record
entry Enforcement Officer visit
Near- miss
(Gardai - HSA Inspector)
Has the injury resulted in
a three-day absence from Act on any reasonable request
normal duties? from the investigator

NO YE Investigate the accident or incident to establish possible

S causes, so as to prevent a similar incident occurring
Report the incident to (keep a record of your findings)
the Enforcing
Authority.
Take Action on the result of your investigation (keep a
Complete Accident
record of your actions)
Book entry

Consider whether existing risk assessments are adequate

or need to be updated.

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Accidents involving vehicles on a public road are included if the person harmed was driving or
riding in the vehicle in the course of their work, if the injury or condition is a result of
exposure .to a substance or injury from an article being carried in a vehicle, or connected with
the loading or unloading of a vehicle, or in connection with road works and work adjacent to a
road (e.g. hedge cutting or building maintenance). Further details can be found at the end of this
guidance note.
In the case of a death the HSA must be notified by the quickest practicable means (i.e. by
telephone). The HSA will need the name of the deceased, brief particulars and the location of
the accident. You also need to confirm the details in a written report, on an approved form. It is
possible to complete this process over the internet.
To allow a full investigation to be made the accident site must not be disturbed for 3 days, other
than to make it safe, unless an inspector of the HSA gives permission. A death occurring within
a year of an accident must also be reported. HSA contact details can be found towards the end of
this guidance note.
Other reportable injuries and dangerous occurrences must be reported in writing as soon as is
practicable and in all cases within 14 days of the accident. If you report by telephone or internet
you will be given a reference number as confirmation that the report has been made; make a
note of this number on your accident book entry for the accident. If you report to the HSA in
writing keep a copy as evidence should any questions be raised at a later stage.
If you are not sure and require further guidance call the 24 Hour Advice Service.
Accident details should be recorded in the Accident Book. The completed page should be filed
in the Completed Accident Reports Binder and stored securely to comply with data protection
legislation. The entry should detail the injured person’s name and contact details and give brief
details including dates, times, location and a description of the events.
All entries in the Accident Book should be checked periodically with the aim of identifying any
reoccurrence or trends. If a pattern of accidents is seen, remedial action should be identified and
the appropriate control measures put in place.
Employees should be made aware of accident, incident and disease reporting procedures during
their induction to the organisation.
Information of the reporting procedures should also be provided for contractors and visitors to
your premises or site. This can be provided verbally or by written instruction.
You should begin to investigate all incidents, including near misses, as soon as is possible, to
identify the cause(s). Where possible, remedial action should be taken to remove any immediate
risk of danger and minimise the possibility of reoccurrence. Any action taken should be
documented and explained to the workforce. Guidance Note 1-4 Accident Investigation gives
more information. You should also check that the risk assessment for the task or area concerned
is still valid or, if necessary, update it to reflect the changed situation.
The Health and Safety Authority may be contacted as follows:
 Telephone: 1890 289 389 (9am – 5pm)

 Fax: 01 614 7020

 Email: wcu@hsa.ie

 Internet: http://www.hsa.ie

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  Post (using form IR1 and IR3): The Health and Safety Authority, The Metropolitan
Building, James Joyce Street, Dublin 1

Reports to the HSA by Internet do not require a follow-up written report. Anyone reporting an
incident by telephone or Internet will be given a reference number and sent a printed copy of the
report for checking and their records. Keep the printed copies you receive from the HSA
because the requirement to keep a record of reported incidents for inspection by visiting Officers
remains.
In the event of a civil claim for compensation you may be asked by the claimant’s legal
representative for a copy of the completed report form. Your legal adviser will find it easier to
handle the claim if all the paperwork is readily available. So it is important that all the relevant
documentation is securely filed and kept for a minimum of ten years or for accidents that occur
to children until they reach the age of 21.

Further advice and guidance on any of the issues associated with accident and incident reporting
or the advice contained in this guidance note is available from our 24 Hour Advice service.

Guidance Notes are regularly revised and updated to reflect current best practice and take
account of revised standards or legislation.

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Extract from The Safety Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations,
1993
Reportable Dangerous Occurrences

Dangerous Occurrences that require reporting to the HSA are:

1. The collapse, overturning, or failure of any load-bearing part of:

(a) any lift, hoist, crane, derrick or mobile powered access platform;
(b) any excavator; or
(c) any pile-driving frame or rig having an overall height, when operating, of more than seven
metres.
2. The explosion, collapse or bursting of any closed vessel, including a boiler or boiler tube, in
which the internal pressure was above or below atmospheric pressure.
3. Electrical short circuit or overload attended by fire or explosion which results in the stoppage
of the plant involved for more than 24 hours.
4. An explosion or fire occurring in any plant or place which resulted in the stoppage of that plant
or suspension of normal work in that place for more than 24 hours, where such explosion or
fire was due to the ignition of process materials, their by-products (including waste) or
finished products.
5. The sudden uncontrolled release of one tonne or more of highly flammable liquid, liquified
flammable gas, flammable gas or flammable liquid above its boiling point from any system
plant or pipe-line.
6. The collapse or partial collapse of any scaffold more than five metres high which results in a
substantial part of the scaffold falling or overturning, including, where the scaffold is slung or
suspended, a collapse or part collapse of the suspension arrangements (including an outrigger)
which causes a working platform or cradle to fall more than five metres.
7. Any unintended collapse or partial collapse of:
(a) any building or structure under construction, reconstruction alteration or demolition, or of any
false-work, involving a fall of more than five tonnes of material: or
(b) any floor or wall of any building being used as a place of work, not being a building under
construction, reconstruction, alteration or demolition.
8. The uncontrolled or accidental release or the escape of any substance or pathogen from any
apparatus, equipment, pipework, pipe-line, process plant, storage vessel, tank, in-works
conveyance tanker, land-fill site, or exploratory land-drilling site, which, having regard to the
nature of the substance or pathogen and the extent and location of the release or escape, might
have been liable to cause serious injury to any person.
9. Any unintentional ignition or explosion of explosives.
10. The failure of any container or of any load-bearing part thereof while it is being raised,
lowered or suspended.

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11. Either of the following incidents in relation to a pipe-line:
(a) the bursting, explosion or collapse of a pipe-line or any part thereof:
(b) the unintentional ignition of anything in a pipe-line, or of anything which immediately before
it was ignited was in a pipeline.
12. (1) Any incident in which a container, tank, tank vehicle, tank semi-trailer, tank trailer or
tank-container being used for conveying a dangerous substance by road:
(i) overturns: or
(ii) suffers damage to the package or tank in which the dangerous substance is being
conveyed.
(2) Any incident involving a vehicle carrying a dangerous substance by road, where there is-
(i) an uncontrolled release or escape from any package or container of the dangerous
substance or dangerous preparation being conveyed; or
(ii) a fire which involves the dangerous substance or dangerous preparation being conveyed.
13. Any incident where breathing apparatus while being used to enable the wearer to breathe
independently of the surrounding environment malfunctions in such a way as to be likely
either to deprive the wearer of oxygen or, in the case of use in a contaminated atmosphere, to
expose the wearer to the contaminant to the extent in either case of posing a danger to his
health, but excluding such apparatus while it is being used in a mine or is being maintained or
tested
14. Any incident in which plant or equipment either comes into contact with an overhead electric
line in which the voltage exceeds 200 volts, or causes an electrical discharge from such
electric line by coming into close proximity to it, unless in either case the incident was
intentional.
15. Any accidental collision between a locomotive or a train and any other vehicle at a factory or
at dock premises.
16. The bursting of a revolving vessel, wheel, grindstone, or grinding wheel moved by
mechanical power.

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