SAFETY MYTHS - 27.03.2006

Claim culture

Be selective

Don’t investigate every accident; there’s no point. For example, if one of your staff scalds their arm on steam from a kettle, or suffers a cut from being awkward with a pair of scissors, the injury could be nasty, but a full-blown accident investigation isn’t going to achieve anything. It’s become a common misconception that if someone has an accident, they have a divine right to claim compensation for their injuries. As a result, employers have to spend hours upon end proving their innocence.

You don’t have to. For a claim to be successful, the employee has to show you’ve been negligent. For example, you haven’t assessed the risks properly and an accident can be directly attributable to that. A solicitor isn’t going to take on a claim for either of the examples above, because the injuries are the fault of the injured employees. Also, it wouldn’t be in the solicitor’s interests, as even if negligence could be proven against you, any compensation awarded would be minimal.

Making the distinction

The main difficulty can be in deciding when to investigate and when not to.

Tip 1. To be on the safe side, if you have any doubt, start to investigate. You can always stop as soon as you find some compelling evidence to suggest a solicitor or claims management company won’t have any reason to come knocking on your door.

Tip 2. Keep things informal; ask around for witnesses. From there try and gauge whether there is more to it than meets the eye. If you think there is, continue investigating.

Fact from fiction

This is when you’ll need to put your detective hat on. Accident investigation is a bit of a black art; do it well and you’ll reap the benefits, do it badly and you’ll find out nothing and waste your time, money and effort. So how can you make it a worthwhile exercise? The simple rule is to keep things simple and don’t try and find things that simply aren’t there. There isn’t always a single causal factor that can be pinpointed. In the same way, there isn’t always someone to blame. You also have to be prepared not to actually find out all of the facts; you should just try to find out as much as you can.

Don’t hang about

The quicker you act, the easier your investigation could be. If you don’t act quickly, those involved may begin to forget what happened or hatch a false story! They may not be doing it intentionally, or they might be doing it out of misguided loyalty to the injured person, trying to save them getting into trouble, or even to help them pursue a claim.

Tip 1. If you conduct interviews, be clear that you’re not looking to apportion blame, or are intending to take disciplinary action. If you make it clear that your interests are to prevent a re-occurrence of the accident, you’ll stand a far better chance of getting to the facts, not what you want to hear, or worse, a selective version of the truth.

Tip 2. Get your camera out. If you can take some clear pictures of the scene after the event, it will prevent any false allegations about the circumstances of the accident being made. Make sure you get hard copies and sign and date the back of the photos.