Injury at Work

Under the Health and Safety at Work Act, Northumbria Police has a responsibility for the safety of its workforce. There is a duty to record and collate all accidents and also 'near misses'.

An accident can be defined as - any unplanned and uncontrolled event that results in injury or ill health of people, damage or loss to property, plant, materials or the environment.

A near miss can be defined as - an unplanned or uncontrolled event that could have resulted in loss of some kind.

There are further obligations in respect of reporting 'dangerous occurrences'.

A dangerous occurrence is where something happens which does not result in injury but clearly could have done so.