Can Safety Representatives Inspect Records of Accidents?

Posted 7 years ago

Both employers and health & safety representatives have a duty to work in unison to ensure that they keep the workplace as safe and risk-free as it can possibly be. However, both of these have different responsibilities when it comes to playing their part in improving workplace health & safety.

Safety representatives ARE legally entitled to inspect records of accidents that employers have to keep under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR).

What HSE Say:

“Employers must make sure that:

they tell the representatives of the action taken and confirm this in writing if they have to take urgent steps to safeguard against further or immediate dangers and;
the representatives see and take copies of relevant documents which employers have kept as part of their records for health and safety management so they can carry out inspection and examination of reportable incidents.

Health and safety representatives must make sure that:

when they examine any machinery, plant, equipment or substance in the workplace relevant to the incident, they must not interfere with any evidence that could disturb or destroy factual evidence before a health and safety inspector has thoroughly investigated the incident. Representatives should only inspect once it is safe and appropriate to do so. These inspections could include visual inspection and discussions with those who know about the circumstances of an incident and;
when they ask employers for relevant documents for inspection, they should consider reasonable time and circumstances that employers may face in producing such documents.”

RIDDOR Training

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