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Notification of Accidents
Employers are required to notify the "appropriate authority" of
accidents occurring within the premises.
In 1971, 90 accidents were reported to this Authority compared
with 83 in 1970. This slight increase in notification was no doubt
brought about by the distribution of 2000 circular letters, a repeat
of 1967, to employers and management of their legal obligations
and the importance of the exercise.
Once again "falls" top the list of the causes of accidents. A fall
is no longer a 'joke' at least to the individual having the fall.
Whilst none of the accidents reported was fatal, some of the
injuries sustained have caused the injured person to be away from
work, in some cases weeks and even months.
There was a case of serious burns involving a young woman who
became ignited whilst sitting in front of an open fire. Previous to
to the incident she had served a customer with petrol and had
accidentally spilt some on her clothing (trousers).
'Open' fires should on no account be in an area where petrol is
stored, used or sold, not even in an office where this accident
actually occurred.
During the past seven years accident prevention work done by
the inspectorate under the Act and the remedies of structural
defects, equipment, appliances, etc., does not appear to have
reduced the accident rate as a whole. There has, however, been
a significant decrease in the number of accidents concerning the
meat slicing machines. The provision of a guard to the knife,
coupled with the awareness of the operator that he or she is
working at a dangerous machine and training given has been
instrumental in obtaining the improvement.
Accidents at work are a serious and costly national problem, not
only in human suffering but causing a financial burden of some
magnitude. The Government has appointed a Committee on safety
and health at work to report on the problem and to suggest ways
and means to combat it.
Of the 90 accidents reported, 25 concerned men, 42 women, 13
boys and 10 girls.
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