Which method of reporting data to use?
There are no legally defined methods to use, but you must internally report and review your incidents. You should choose the method that is most relevant to your organisation, performance and culture.
Total incident rate gives a reflection of the number of incidents occurring, but this may not be representative of the safety culture, e.g. if you are a large employer in a high-risk industry you are more likely to suffer accidents than a small office-based firm.
Total frequency rate is useful to benchmark against other divisions or branches as the multiplier makes the numbers more comparable against differing headcounts etc. Shortfalls with this are that one serious injury which may result in months of lost time will count exactly the same as a minor injury that may only result in a few days off.
Severity rate can be used to understand how serious the injury was and could be more reflective of the safety culture.
Tip. The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 require certain incidents to be reported to the HSE, so this is a different requirement to accident data mentioned above.
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