The Accident Book: What the Law Requires (UK)

An accident book is where workplace injuries are recorded. Keeping one is both a legal expectation for most employers and simply good practice, because the record supports any claim, any RIDDOR report, and your own efforts to stop the same thing happening again.

Is it a legal requirement?

Businesses with ten or more employees must keep an accident book under social security law, and in practice every employer should record work accidents. Recording accidents is also part of managing health and safety under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.

What to record

1. Who was involved and who filled in the entry.
2. The date, time and exact place.
3. What happened and the injury that resulted.
4. What the person was doing at the time.
5. Any witnesses and the immediate action taken.

Data protection

An accident book holds personal and health information, so entries must be kept so that one person cannot read another person's details. Older style books with visible pages have been replaced by formats where each entry is removed and filed securely. This is a data protection requirement, not a nicety.

How it links to RIDDOR

The internal record feeds your decision on whether an event must be reported to the HSE under RIDDOR, and gives you the detail to make that report. Our accident report form guide covers the reporting side.

Use the record

Do not just file entries. Reviewing them shows recurring hazards so you can improve the risk assessment before a minor injury becomes a serious one. An editable accident record template is included in membership.