Best Practices for Injury Reporting

Accurately reporting accidents and injuries play a major role in all safety management systems. It is crucial to implement and establish an injury reporting procedure that includes employee communication and participation across all departments.  Encouraging each employee to report injuries or near misses improves workplace safety and the organizational safety culture.

To that end, in today's post we will discuss some best practices related to an effective injury reporting system.

• All injuries should be reported to the nearest manager or safety officer. Subsequently, the Manager should determine the next cause of action and treatment options.

• When completing the injury report, it is important to accurately describe the injury events in chronological order without downplaying or embellishing the severity of the injury or the events leading to the injury.

• Information gathered from individuals who do not have firsthand knowledge or information relating to the injury cannot be used in reporting.  The injury report should not contain second or third hand information.

 

• If you are not a trained medical professional, refrain from using diagnostic terms when filling out the injury report. Diagnostic terminology such as sprains, torn ligaments and broken bones should be avoided until after the injured party receives proper medical attention. Descriptions such as “severe pain in lower left leg, individual cannot put pressure onto leg and cannot walk without assistance” can be used in place of “potential broken left leg”. 

 

• Take note of details such as weather conditions, time of day, shift period, sublocation, department and specific hazards in the immediate area.

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• Ensure that any first aid or medical intervention that was provided to the injured party is properly documented. 

 

• Deploy a digital injury reporting application. Managers and safety personnel can file reports using a cell phone or tablet to improve data collection and response times.

Remember, injury reporting is an effective tool for minimizing future injures. In addition, it positively influences safety culture and increases employee communication and participation.

For more information on injury reporting or to learn how Accupoint Software can help streamline your Safety Management program, please contact us today.