How Do I Report My Injury In An Accident At Work Book?

You can report an accident or injury you suffer at work in a work accident report book. A work accident book is a way to have the injury documented with your place of work and if you wish to make a personal injury claim later on, it could be used as part of your evidence.

This guide will talk about work accident books, the importance of documenting workplace accidents and ways the information can be used to improve workplace health and safety.

If you have suffered an accident and injury due to employer negligence, and want to talk to someone about what steps to take, you could speak to one of our advisers. They offer free initial consultations and can offer advice on what to do in your situation.

You can contact them using:

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Choose A Section

What Is An Accident At Work Book?
Common Workplace Injury Scenarios
Is An Accident At Work Book Crucial For A Claim?
What You Could Get For Injuries Suffered At Work
Can No Win No Fee Lawyers Handle Work Injury Claims?
Extra Advice About Using An Accident At Work Book

What Is An Accident At Work Book?

A work accident book is a requirement in every workplace where there are more than 10 employees. Any injury suffered at work, no matter how minor, should be reported in an accident at work book. This can prove useful, as finding an accident or injury has been recorded several times in the book could let employers know what common hazards exist in a workplace and what protections are needed.

Similarly, an accident or injury being a common recurrence in a work accident book could act as evidence in a personal injury claim. This could prove there was a continuing hazard in a workplace that an employer was possibly not doing enough to prevent.

Employers have a responsibility to ensure their employees’ well-being and health and safety. They have to recognise and reduce risks to employees in a workplace. This is known as a duty of care and it is laid out in several legislations dealing with workplace health and safety, the primary one being the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (HASAWA).

If you suffered an injury because your employer did not take reasonable action to make your workplace safer, they could be liable. If you would like to discuss making a claim, you could speak with one of our advisers now.

Reported Statistics For Accidents At Work

The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) is the government agency responsible for the regulation and enforcement of workplace health and safety. They oversee the reporting of workplace accidents under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR), which requires employers to report various accidents and injuries. These include accidents that lead to deaths, over seven days absence of work and specified injuries (serious injuries such as certain fractures, amputations, lacerations or burns).

From the data reported under RIDDOR in the years 2015/16 to 2020/21, slips, trips and falls were the most commonly reported type of accident with 119,356 reported incidents, 47,096 of which led to specified injuries. Falls from a height were the most fatal, resulting in 208 deaths.

Common Workplace Injury Scenarios

As mentioned, if a specific accident or injury commonly reoccurs in a work accident book, this could signal a potential problem to employers. It is their responsibility to do all they reasonably can to prevent accidents from happening. Actions they could take include:

Performing risk assessments of an area before they ask an employee to work in it. This could help them identify potential hazards (such as an exposed wire or slippery surface) and gives them a chance to either remove the hazard or find a way to reduce the risk of harm.
Performing risk assessments of a task before they assign it to an employee. This could once again help them identify potential hazards (such as faulty machinery) and also understand a risk that could be posed by a task (such as lifting injuries from manual handling tasks).
Provide training for potentially harmful tasks (like working with saws or manual handling activities)
Provide safety equipment for potentially harmful tasks (such as appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE).

If your employer failed to take reasonable measures to look for and reduce the risk of harm in your place of work and this led to your injury; then they could be found liable.

Our advisers can offer information on employer liability. Contact our team today to find out if your claim is valid.

Is An Accident At Work Book Crucial For A Claim?

An accident being recorded in an accident at work book can be used as evidence in a claim, but it is not crucial, and other evidence can be used in place of it to prove the accident and injury.

You could use pictures of the injury from the day of the accident or records of medical treatment you have received for the injury. This could include hospital or GP appointments you have had to assess or treat the injury. However, for use in the claim, an independent medical assessor could be appointed to assess your injuries.

Other evidence that could be helpful in a personal injury claim for a work accident, is evidence of how the accident and injury happened. This could come in the form of;

CCTV: Or similar recordings like photographs, that show the hazard that led to your injury.
Witnesses: Collect the contact details of witnesses who either witnessed the accident or could provide statements about the hazard that led to your injury.
Documents: Work documents that show that required health and safety procedures (such as risk assessments) were not being performed.

It’s advised to collect any documents or material you have relating to your injury. This could be:

Receipts, if you spend money towards your treatment or care.
Day-to-day notes of how the injury is affecting you.

A personal injury solicitor could offer you specific advice on what you could gather as evidence in your claim. You can speak to one of our advisers now, and see if they could put you through to one from our panel.

What You Could Get For Injuries Suffered At Work

What you could be awarded in compensation for your injuries would be influenced by the extent of the injury and what effect it has had on your life.

For the extent of the injury, and any pain and suffering it has caused, you would be awarded a head of compensation known as general damages. The Judicial College Guidelines (JCG), a collection of guidelines for potential compensation payouts for injuries, can be used to give you an idea of what could be awarded in general damages.

Some entries in the JCG include:

Injury	Notes	Award
Other Arm Injuries: (b)	Serious fractures of one or both forearms leading to permanent disability	£36,770 to £56,180
Other Arm Injuries: (d)	Simple Fractures of the Forearm	£6,190 to £18,020
Wrist Injuries: (a)	Complete loss of function in the wrist	£44,690 to £56,180
Wrist Injuries: (b)	Significant permanent disability, but some useful movement remains	£22,990 to £36,770
Wrist Injuries: (c)	Injuries resulting in some form of permanent disability and persisting pain	£11,820 to £22,990
Less Serious Leg Injuries: (ii)	Simple fracture of a femur	£8,550 to £13,210
Knee Injuries: Severe (i)	Disruption of the joint and gross ligament damage	£65,440 to £90,290
Knee Injuries: Moderate (i)	Dislocation or torn cartilage	£13,920 to £24,580
Ankle Injuries: Moderate	Fractures or ligament tears	£12,900 to £24,950
Ankle Injuries: Modest	Undisplaced fractures, sprains, and ligament injuries	Up to £12,900

The second head of compensation is known as special damages and is intended for the financial impact the injury may have had on you. This could be in the form of:

Loss of income
Costs towards care or treatment
Adaptations you have had to make to your house

Special damages are intended to account for financial losses you have suffered due to the injury. This highlights the importance of a medical assessment. It will help you know as much as you can about the injury and related factors; like whether it could worsen or when it could heal. This will be important when assessing an amount to request in future losses in regard to special damages.

For more information about compensation in claims and to possibly even value yours, you can reach out to an adviser now to discuss your situation.

Can No Win No Fee Lawyers Handle Work Injury Claims?

You could enlist a No Win No Fee lawyer to handle your work injury claim. A lawyer working on a No Win No Fee basis would not charge you an upfront fee or ongoing fees for their services. Their payment would only be taken on the condition that your claim was successful and you were awarded compensation. The payment would be a success fee, which is a legally capped percentage of the compensation you are awarded. If your claim was not successful, you would not have to pay them the fee at all.

Our panel of claims solicitors offer No Win No Fee agreements and could represent you in your claim. Talk to an adviser now to see if you could be put through to one from our panel.

Message Us About The Accident At Work Book

Our advisers are available for free initial consultations. They can offer free legal advice and more information on steps you could take after suffering a work accident. You can contact them now using:

The number at the top of the page
Our contact page
The Live Chat feature

Extra Advice About Using An Accident At Work Book

For other additional information you might need:

The government website offers information on
How to access Statutory Sick Pay
And a resource page for pay and work rights
The Health & Safety Executive website offers information on
How to report a health and safety issue

We also offer guides:

If you’d like to know whether you could use the accident at work book as evidence in your potential claim, why not discuss it with our advisors?

Writer Marlon Creek

Publisher Ruth Vince