Filling out accident reports is ‘a must’

9 August 2024

Suffolk Police Federation members are being encouraged to follow up on-duty accidents and near misses by completing post-incident forms.

Helen Self, Suffolk Police Federation health and safety lead, says it’s important incidents are logged in order for lessons to be learned.

“Accidents do happen, but it’s about learning from things and trying to avoid them actually happening or from happening again in the future,” she said.

The Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW) defines a near miss as ‘an event or situation that could have resulted in injury, illness, damage or loss but did not do so due to chance, corrective action or timely intervention’.

“An event or situation that could have resulted in injury, illness, damage or loss but did not do so due to chance, corrective action or timely intervention,” PFEW’s near miss policy states.

Helen Self, Suffolk Police Federation health and safety lead.

Helen said there was a worry that incidents, particularly near misses, were going unreported.

“If accidents or near misses don’t get reported then the Force and the Federation aren’t going to know something has happened,” she said.

“The organisation needs to know something has happened to try to make sure it doesn’t happen again, and the Federation should know or it can’t support officers through anything.

Challenge

“If we know what’s going on, then we can put some support in place for the officer and we can challenge the organisation in relation to what went wrong.”

PFEW’s near miss policy states there are legal reasons under the Health and Safety at Work Act to report a near miss.

It also outlines the moral reasons, including ‘to assist in preventing their colleagues from coming to harm in the workplace’, and financial reasons such as replacing damaged equipment, the payment of legal costs, and fines.

Helen said: “Near misses often don’t get reported.

“People don’t think about reporting it or they go off duty and then it slips their mind.

Near misses

“But it’s important. Those near misses indicate that something may have gone wrong and needs to be looked at. If they don’t report it, how do we support and deal with that?

“If something is not reported or it’s not done accurately, then someone could end up in an accident or a near miss.

“If there’s a failure to do something and as a result someone has a near miss, it’s something we need to know about.

“It’s about learning for us and the organisation and making sure it never happens again or that it never actually happens,” Helen added.

More information is available by emailing Helen Self, Suffolk Police Federation’s health and safety lead.

Further information is also available by downloading PFEW’s near miss policy.