Injuries, to be reported

Certain conditions must be met for an injury to be reportable, such as the injured employee taking prescription drugs or time off work. 

The regulations are concerned with the reporting to the enforcing authorities deaths at work, certain types of injuries, diseases and dangerous occurrence incidents known to have a serious injury potential. Included in the types of injury to be reported are those lesser injuries that result in an inability to work for more than 3 days. 

Most jurisdictions have requirements to report injuries above a eertain level of severity, or diseases of certain types, to the oeeupational health and safety and/or workers compensation authority. The types of injuries to be reported should be checked in the legislation relevant to you but may include ... 

Management and Employee Cooperation. Before beginning to collect data, the cooperation of the managers involved, including the first line supervisor, and of the workers should be secured. Management needs to be informed so that they can be confident that surveillance activities will not upset production or lead to injuries. Workers need to know what the valuation means to them and how the results are to be reported. Everyone needs to know how the measurement is to be conducted so that the actual measurement causes as Htde dismption as possible. 

All adverse events that cause or have the potential to cause death or serious injury must be reported to the Competent Authorities of the Member States where the investigations are being conducted. 

All accidents and injuries should be reported to the lab safety officer in charge. 

The Role of the If Clause Even if a product falls within the six hazard categories enumerated in the statute, it may not be a hazardous substance if, pursuant to Section 2(f)l(A), it will not cause substantial injury or substantial illness as a result of any reasonably foreseeable handling or use. Application of this second statutory criterion for a hazardous substance —which is frequently described as the if clause—depends on such factors as the physical nature of the product, the method of packaging, the extent of any injury to be anticipated, reports of human experience, and other similar considerations. 

Because injuries are rare events, they do not always reflect the sum total of daily performance of company employees and managers. Thus, while they are an accurate measure of overall company safety performance, they are an insensitive measure at the individual and departmental levels. Some experts feel that more basic information has to be collected to provide the basis for directing health and safety efforts. One proposed measure is to use first-aid reports from industrial clinics. These provide information on more frequent events than the injuries required to be reported by the OSHAct. It is thought that these occurrences can provide insights into patterns of hazards and/or behaviors that may lead to the more serious injuries and that their greater number provides a larger statistical base for determining accident potential. 

As discussed in Chapter 7, Reporting and Recordkeeping, 8(e) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) requires that any person who imports, manufactures, processes, or distributes chemical substances or mixtures in the United States and who obtains information generated in the United States or in another country that reasonably supports a conclusion that a chemical substance or mixture may present a substantial risk of injury to human health or the environment must immediately report such information to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), unless the person knows that EPA has already been adequately informed. The information must be submitted to the Agency within thirty calendar days of the individual or business obtaining the information. For information to be reportable under 8(e), it does not need to establish conclusively that a risk exists and does not need to provide evidence that the substance is hazardous to human health or the environment under actual conditions of use and exposure. The information may relate to actual instances of serious human health or environmental injury caused by the chemical or mixture or to observations that are early indications of such effects. Incidents of environmental contamination may also be report-able under TSCA 8(e) and should be reviewed under this procedure in order to determine its immediate reportability as soon as the Company has knowledge of the incident. 

For a safety culture change intervention to be successful, there must be a climate of trust between employees and management. This includes declaring a truce and moving the focus away from injury blame fixing and fault finding to a safe space where injuries can be reported without fear of reprimand—a space where employees safety concerns can be freely expressed. This amnesty is the only way to create a climate in which old embedded safety habits and beliefs can change. 

Under Section 4(a) ofTSCA, the U.S. EPAcanrequire testing of a chemical substance or mixture to develop data relevant for assessing the risks to health and the environment. Section 8(d) ofTSCA requires that lists of health and safety studies conducted or initiated with respect to a substance or mixture be submitted to the U.S. EPA. All new toxicological data of the effects of a chemical not previously mentioned must be reported immediately if the data reasonably supports the conclusion that such substance or mixture presents a substantial risk of injury to health or the environment [Section 8(e) ofTSCA]. Testing (Section 4 test rule) was required for several of the solvents earlier (e.g., commercial hexane for which new toxicological information was reported to the U.S. EPA since 1992), and any new toxicological information will have to be reported to the U.S. EPA under Section 8(e) and 8(d). 

Get immediate medical attention for injuries, however minor they appear to be. Report all accidents to your supervisor. 

Employees must feel motivated and comfortable about reporting hazards as a part of an accident prevention effort of the company. In like manner, accidents and injuries should be reported so that the facts relevant to causes of events can be determined without becoming a fault-finding witch hunt. Fault-finding certainly will not foster an honest search for the root causes and possible prevention of the occurrence and reoccurrence of various types of serious occupational events. 

Accidents causing injury or illness The second type of accident that has to be reported is one where a person suffers a major injury at work or certain types of illness requiring medical attention. The injuries and illnesses are defined in regulation 3 as ... 

Reporting. In addition to other medical events that are required to be reported on the OSHA Form No. 200, the employer shall report any abnormal condition or disorder caused by occupational exposure to cadmium associated with employment as specified in Chapter (V)(E) of the Reporting Guidelines for Occupational Injuries and Illnesses. 

On the positive side, in most workplaces there already exists formal documentation available to report accidents, incidents, near misses, hazards and injuries. However, few workpeople appear able to clearly understand exactfy what is to be reported. Even fewer appear to know the role each report p%s in their safety. This must cause concern that the effort put into information collection, and its anafysis and interpretation, is of questionable value. 

Occupational safety and health legislation requires that certain kinds of injury must be reported. The reportable injuries result from serious accidents. Put another way, serious accidents include those leading to reportable injiuies. Thorough accident investigation policies and procedures need to be predetermined to ensure optimiun benefit is... 

Outline what is to be reported date and time the incident occurred location description of the incident identification data for employees injured (name, badge number, regular occupation, length of employment, length of time on the job involved) estimated potential injury, property damage, or environmental damage immediate actions taken further short-term actions to be taken reports made or to be made to OSHA, EPA, insurance carriers actions taken to assemble an investigation team. 

In general, the less serious an incident is, the less likely it is to be reported. It is extremely difficult in most organisations to cover up a fatality or major injury, but minor injuries often go unreported. However, there are various things which can be done to improve reporting and these are described below. 

Fatalities, major injuries, dangerous occurrences and three day accidents have to be reported on Form F2508. The main requirements for information on this form are ... 

Serious incidents as defined have to be recorded and reported to the relevant authority. However, there is also a requirement to record details of less serious incidents, for example minor injuries, although these do not have to be reported to an authority. This requirement is imposed by the Social Security (Claims and Pa5unents) Regulations 1979 but it does not apply to all employers. However, where it does apply, these less serious incidents can be recorded either in an Accident Book (BI 510) or on an organisation s own form or forms. In either case, the minimum information which must be recorded is ... 

Electric burns, and electric shock combined with burns, account for most of the work-related reported electrical accidents. Electric shocks on their own, although very common occurrences, are infrequently notified to the enforcement authorities. This is because an electric shock injury only needs to be reported if it results in death or unconsciousness, or in the injured person being detained in hospital for 24 hours or longer, or in the person... 

It can be assumed that the numbers for fatal accidents will be accurate because the HSE learns about all workplace deaths, but those for non-fatal injuries will seriously underestimate the actual number of workplace injuries because of endemic underreporting. Many employers and self-employed people are reluctant to report injuries to the HSE, despite the fact that not to do so is a breach of the Reporting of Injuries and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995. Another influencing factor is that the Regulations only require to be reported those electric shock injuries that lead to unconsciousness or require resuscitation or admittance to hospital for more than 24 hours very many electric shock incidents do not fall within those categories. Otherwise, electrical injuries must be reported if they lead to ... 

The laboratory supervisor should see that all serious injuries that require medical attention be reported by calling emergency response. All incidents that result in an injury or property damage are to be reported using an accident report form. 

The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR) require that employers notify the relevant enforcing authority of specified injuries, diseases and dangerous occurrences that occur as a result of a work undertaking. The events (specified in RIDDOR) that need to be reported are ... 

Incidents in which a device may have caused or contributed to a death or serious injury must be reported to the FDA under the Medical Device Reporting Program. In additions, certain malfunctions must also be reported (16). 

Advise that all injuries requiring first-aid are to be reported to the project staff and details recorded ... 

Advise that fatalities and major injuries are to be reported immediately with full details to project staff ... 

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