Occupational Accident Reporting and Investigation
Part of Accidents at Work
Article 23 of the Law on Prevention of Occupational Risks outlines the employer’s obligation to notify the labor authority of injuries sustained by workers in their service as a result of work carried out. This involves writing an accident report, detailing a series of data related to the incident.
What Accidents Must Be Reported?
Depending on the Mode:
- Work accident causing sick leave, i.e., involving an absence from work of at least one day (not counting the day of cessation).
- Industrial accident that will not cause sick leave, i.e., involving absence of the employee only on the day of the accident or when the return to work occurs throughout the working day following the accident, following a medical examination.
- High or deaths from accidents.
- Relapses.
According to the Source:
- Work accidents occurred within the workplace.
- Accidents at work are considering traveling which (accidents that occur on the journey from home to workplace and vice versa).
When Will Be Notified?
Cause:
- Accident leaves the medical work.
- Accident that does not cause medical leave.
- Serious accidents, serious or fatal, or that affect more than four workers.
Timeline:
- Five working days from the date of accident or fall.
- Relationship monthly to the insurance in the first five working days after which the data relate.
- Besides the official form, within 24 hours notice to the labor authority by telegram or other similar.
Part of Accident
The notification of occupational accidents was performed according to the following official forms. The accident report should be drawn up in five examples: for the employer, for the worker, for the managing body, for the Department of Informatics and Statistics under the Ministry of Labor, and to the labor authority. The employment authority must send a copy of the documents received for accidents to the Provincial Labor Inspectorate Unit. In fatal accidents, serious and severe, inspecting the work should be a mandatory practice for company research on how the accident occurred, or the causes and circumstances. Moreover, in the case of death of the injured worker, the physician who has assisted must extend, in duplicate, the medical certificate of death and whether this was due to occupational accidents and causes of death.
Registration and Investigation of the Accident
Accident Investigation
Article 16 of the Law on Prevention of Occupational Risks requires that where there has been damage to the health of workers or if they experience signs that prevention efforts are insufficient, the employer must carry out research with the aim of investigating the causes of these events. Through research, it seeks to clarify the causes of the accident in order to implement corrective measures to prevent similar incidents from happening again. Research should be done by direct command, for who knows best how to run the job and what remedial measures are appropriate. In case of accidents, frequent or otherwise, when requested, it will be necessary to intervene to prevent the technician and others involved with the case, and even in certain research, external technical advice from specialists is needed for the material being analyzed. After the investigation, prepare a report including the identification of physical injury and property damage, detailed description of the accident, analysis of causes and proposed corrective measures, and assessment of costs.
Statistical Monitoring of Accidents
According to the recommendations of the Tenth International Conference of Labor Statisticians of the ILO, a set of ratios or statistical indicators was established to know the characteristics of accidents at the company. The data taken into account are:
- N: number of accidents occurred in the workplace, excluding commuting accidents.
- n: number of workers at risk. They are computed for each homogeneous risk area (workshops, offices).
- Ht: number of man-hours worked, calculated from multiplying the number of workers at risk by the number of hours worked per day, or days worked. Illness and leave entitlements are excluded.
- Jr: natural days lost by IT, whether to include the day of the accident or the date of incorporation.
- Jb: days lost to death or permanent disability (as scales.)
Statistical Indices:
- Indices of frequency (IF): number of accidents per million assumption of man-hours worked.
- General frequency rate (GFR): number of accidents with and without low per million man-hours.
- Severity Index (GI): number of days lost per thousand hours of exposure to risk considering.
- Incidence rate (II): number of accidents occurring per 1,000 workers at risk.
- Average rate of casualties (IDM): number of days lost per accident for more than a day or entitled to compensation, excluding commuting accidents.
- Security Index (SI): number of workers at risk for each accident and one hundred thousand hours worked.