Incidents are defined differently, but in this case we are talking about an incident that could have resulted in a work accident. Incidents can be divided into first aid required incidents and those that did not cause injury but could have led to a serious work accident. One of the best solution to prevent those is to implement a good incident management analysis and reporting system.
Why is it Necessary to Deal With Incident Reporting?
Reporting incidents makes it possible to understand the main concerns in the work environment that can lead to work accidents or work-related illnesses at one time. By approaching incidents systematically and focusing on resolving these incidents, we are gradually improving the working environment.
Who Should be Involved in Incident Registration?
It is quite logical that incident reporting should involve all the people who should be involved in the reporting itself.
However, it is worth starting with fewer people, for example, the system is tested by a health and safety specialist and an employee representative. Later, you can add department managers, foremen, etc.
Finally, if the system has been tested from multiple angles by the test group, you can also add employees. Here it is important to think through how to motivate and engage employees.
What Incident Reporting Management Systems to Use
There are many different digital platforms for reporting incidents, and which digital platform to choose depends on several factors
- Who is involved in incident reporting
- How big is your business
- How deep do you want to go with the system on a theoretical level?
It is a good idea to start with a system that does not initially need to involve employees, as this will give you proof that the system is working and what changes need to be made.
Simpler solutions include simple Excel execution, where, for example, those department managers can describe the incidents that have occurred in their department.
A slightly more complicated solution is to give a simple excel system for employees to fill in as well, but here it is definitely important to deal thoroughly with the communication, i.e. why do we collect incidents, what happens after reporting and which situations are considered dangerous?
Employees may be afraid to report incidents for fear that this may result in punishment or unfavorable treatment. It must be confirmed that the purpose of communicating incidents is to obtain statistics on how many similar situations occur and how to prevent them from becoming accidents at work.
Certainly the most difficult to implement, but in the future the easiest is to use some digital platform to report incidents. There are plenty to choose from, and here you need to look again, what your goal is and how detailed information you want to gather.
