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Health and safety incident management software: 5 key benefits

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The health and safety of your people is your duty as an employer. Therefore, you must create and sustain a healthy and safe workplace. That’s why having some reliable health and safety incident management software is a key aspect of your overall safety management system. Rather than piling up paperwork, investigating for weeks via long email chains and missing critical evidence, choosing some incident reporting software should be among your 2023 objectives. Let’s see why!

Why does it matter so much to report health and safety incidents?

More than 1.8 million people in Great Britain have reported work-related illnesses in 2021-2022. In fact, 565,000 employees have reported sustained injuries and 123 were fatal. Reporting incidents is important in order to take the right corrective action as well as investigate the root cause and prevent any future occurrences. As a business you must report health and safety incidents to demonstrate your commitment to your people and reinforce your brand’s safety culture

Therefore, documenting all safety incidents is key to allow corrections, risk prevention and analysis. Otherwise your business’ reputation could be damaged and your people’s motivation to work too! Overall, reporting health and safety incidents is essential for a good safety management system.

Image showing examples of health and safety incidents

How do you report health and safety incidents?

You must have a system in place for quick reporting with a ready-to-use form to fill in. This reinforces your commitment to building a safe workplace for your people. You must record certain work-related injuries, illnesses, incidents and accidents to the HSE (Health and Safety Executive) in the UK under the RIDDOR law in place since 2013. Such incidents can include gas leaks and equipment damage but also carpal tunnel syndrome, severe hand cramps or occupational asthma (e.g. chefs working in hot kitchens). 

What’s important is to detail the incident as much as possible – and that’s why some health and safety incident management software is handy:

  • Name
  • Date
  • Location
  • What, how, why (if known)
  • Any witness or supportive evidence such as videos or pictures.

You must report incidents within 10 days of the incident, or within 15 days if it’s an illness resulting in 7 days of absence. 

Image comparing paper-based and health and safety incident management software

Why should you opt for health and safety incident management software?

1. It saves you time and hours of manual reporting

Better than a paper or an Excel sheet. Digitally reporting health and safety incidents into a software removes the burden of manual work. Reports have drop-down options, pre-filled answers and are easier and quicker to fill in. Our incident management software is fitted with RIDDOR-style reports to remove the hassle of having to fill in different forms from different websites and software.

2. Health and safety incident management software to keep you organised

Stay on top of things and be less overwhelmed as incidents happen. This kind of reporting software removes the need to keep numerous files in an Accident Log Book or in a fancy Google Drive folder. All reports are saved digitally in one place so you can’t lose any. Easy to access at any time, a quick look into your incident report library with easy filters is enough to let you assess and review a recurring incident or trend. 

3. Quicker approval and communication chains, less emails and phone calls

Having all reports filled in and saved into one health and safety incident management software enables quicker approval and investigation processes. Less faxing, emailing, calling and posting between teams, it’s all done digitally in the platform. In addition, you can set up strict approval workflows and confidentiality settings to match your business needs. Finally, such software allows you to follow the entire reporting and investigation process digitally with in-platform messaging and reminder alerts.

4. More in-depth reporting with a clear and more secure evidence trail

All evidence can be digitally uploaded with the report in a few seconds. Videos, footages, images and files are added within a few clicks, saving you the hassle to print, clip, tape and attach. Consequently, your safety incident report is flawless to protect your brand and people. You can also attach digitally all the evidence that you have taken the right corrective actions to protect your people. Confidential? No problem, just set up your own settings. 

5. To identify trends and find root causes

It allows you to compare all incidents and see the bigger picture. Are there any repeating patterns? Or maybe incidents keep happening at specific times of the day, at a particular site or with a type of product? Once again, this kind of software saves you time and effort, removing the burden of browsing piles of paperwork. Filters and automated reports do the job for you. In addition, safety software supports you in finding root causes and taking corrective action. Maybe it’s time to refresh manual handling training with staff after the last 5 incidents?

Dashboard example of health and safety incident management software
Image showing how an incident software helps you identify trends
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Explore health and safety incident management software to reach new safety heights. 🚀

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