RoSPA Press Office : Press Release

November 5, 1998
DON’T BLAME THE WORKERS -TAKE ACTION

Companies are failing to investigate accidents at work, and are not learning from their safety mistakes, The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents warned today.

All too often the tendency is to find someone to blame for the accident rather than search for the underlying cause, RoSPA says. The most important thing to establish about accidents is not simply to find out how they happened but why they were not prevented in the first place.

At present, employers have a legal duty to prevent harm to their employees and others affected by their work by identifying hazards and assessing risks. But it is just as important to be able to apply lessons learned from good investigation.

The society welcomes the new discussion document which was launched today by the Health and Safety Commission, to consider introducing a new duty on employers to investigate accidents.

Roger Bibbings, RoSPA’s Occupational Safety Adviser, said: "At present only 60 per cent of accidents at work are reported and only a minority of these are investigated. Companies often opt for a ‘quick fix’ solution rather than identifying root causes and making changes in their health and safety management systems.

"In many cases the investigation carried out is not of a high enough standard. Problems include no clear procedures for investigations, lack of management commitment to carry them out and automatic blaming of the victim."

RoSPA is calling for a ‘No Blame’ culture in the workplace, with the emphasis on proper, efficient investigation, and has held discussions with nine organisations, including the Federation of Small Businesses and the Trades Union Congress.

The Society launched its own discussion document in March and is developing other initiatives including guidance on accident investigation for firms and new training courses. It is also considering creating a ‘lessons learned’ database.

Last year, 268 employees and around 100 members of the public, lost their lives in workplaces. There were 1.6 million injuries and around 2 million cases of ill health, caused, or made worse, by work.