Day 130 - 26 May 95 - Page 67
1 the 10 to 20 per cent that we are not reporting, we only
2 find out about them because they are in the accident book.
3 So they are either in the accident book or in the incident
4 report form as well which is how we find out about them.
5 By reporting, we mean reported to the Environmental Health
6 Officer. The same does not apply for minor accidents. We
7 do not have to report those to the -----
8
9 Q. No. All Mr. Morris is saying is probably you have less
10 than four out of five or nine out of 10 of the actual
11 non-RIDDOR accidents probably turn up in the accident book?
12 A. In the accident book, yes, I am sure that is right, in
13 the Colchester accident book.
14
15 Q. I must say that would make sense to me. I should have
16 thought a lot of people just do not bother to put a cut
17 finger or a burnt hand in the book?
18 A. And I think the Colchester accident book was a good
19 example of that because we could see that, you know, really
20 there should have been more in there than there was, and
21 that, yes, it is going to be the really small accidents, if
22 anything, that do not get written in there or the really
23 small injuries from accidents.
24
25 Q. There is no way really of judging what the shortfall is, is
26 there?
27 A. No, there is not, no, I am afraid not.
28
29 MR. MORRIS: The accidents that do not result in injuries, by
30 and large, do not get written in at all?
31 A. Well ------
32
33 Q. That is the general -----
34 A. It depends what the accident is. It depends whether
35 the outcome was nearly a very serious one. For example,
36 anything that we would call a near miss -- probably a near
37 hit is probably a better way of describing it -- we would
38 investigate them as well. So, for example, I do not know,
39 perhaps a tailgate fails in a lorry, the roll cage falls
40 off, it does not hit anybody but just think of the
41 consequences if it did. That sort of thing we would
42 investigate. It does not need to go in the accident book
43 because it does not result in an injury but we would -----
44
45 Q. Right, that is what I meant. The accident book, as has
46 been said, is really an injury book?
47 A. Yes, but we would still investigate it.
48
49 Q. Yes, but in terms of ones that do not result in a possible
50 threat to life or serious injury, a near hit ora near miss,
51 in terms of accidents that are happening where no injury
52 results, the vast majority of them are not recorded in any
53 form?
54 A. I am sure you are right there, but again there is no
55 way of monitoring how many there are. It is a bit like,
56 say, you are driving a car, the amount of times you almost
57 have an accident, you know.
58
59 Q. The point is you can slip over 20 times and only once put
60 your hand on a hot surface, that is the one that goes into
