A guide to: What to do after a workplace accident

Naturally, the most important thing you should do after a workplace accident is to get medical attention. You must look after your health and well-being before anything else. You should have a first aider working with you with a first aid kit available. This is a legal requirement. 

If the injury is serious, an ambulance must be called and someone at work should attend the hospital with you. Alternatively, you may need to see your GP soon after the accident. Either way, both will provide evidence of the accident on your medical record.

Your employer must know about your accident at work as soon as possible. You should also let other colleagues know. This will help prevent your manager from denying that the injury occurred. The person you may report it to could be your direct manager. If you cannot report it, you could ask a colleague to. Your workplace may also have rules that you are required to report all accidents.  

Reporting your accident to your manager can:

• act as evidence of your workplace accident
• prevent others in the workplace from having the same accident
• cause your employer to make necessary changes in the workplace

Depending on how serious your injuries are, your employer may legally have to report the accident to the Health and Safety Executive. 

When you have a workplace accident or suffer an injury, it should be recorded in the company accident book. Any workplace with more than 10 colleagues must have an accident book. Make sure that the report is actually in the accident at work book. 

Where no workplace accident book is available, simply write down details about your accident in the workplace and pass this to your manager or HR department, ensuring you keep your copy. Alternatively,  you could email your manager.

It is important that if you are a trade union member you tell your trade union rep about your accident at work. They may be able to advise you of your rights and support you in making any claim.

As soon as possible after the accident, you should write down details of the accident in terms of how it happened. This will include beforehand and after. Your written document may include:

• incidents before the accident occurred
• the process you used
• instructions you followed
• training which is relevant to the accident

It is really important after an accident in the workplace that you ensure you collect evidence, which includes witness statements. This means you must get contact names and details of witnesses when an accident has happened. Do this as soon as you can. 

Ask witnesses to write a statement as soon as possible after the accident to ensure their account is fresh. They should detail exactly how the accident occurred. You will need this as part of your evidence if you make a compensation claim.  

Evidence can also include, for example:

• photos and videos of your injury
• photos and videos of the  accident scene
• evidence of broken equipment
• lack of signage
• uneven flooring

If you cannot collect evidence and witness statements, ask a colleague in your absence. It is better to have too much evidence than not enough. 

When you have an accident at work you may need time off work afterwards perhaps because you are too ill to attend work. Alternatively, it may be a medical appointment. 

You should talk to your employer about this and any right to sick pay. Your employment contract should detail all of this. You may also be entitled to state benefits as a result of your accident at work. 

Any compensation claim for a workplace injury should cover the financial losses you incur. Therefore, you must keep a record of these. This can include expenses you incur too such as, for example:

• Expenses for medical appointments such as travel
• Work income lost
• Cost of prescriptions
• Loss of money due to cancellations of events such as a holiday
• Care costs
• Changes you have enforced to maze to your hometoenabe yoytocope.

A compensation claim should help recover your finances to what they would have been if you had not suffered the workplace accident. You may write the financial losses down in a document. You should also keep payslips before and after the accident. 

To make an accident in the workplace compensation claim, it is really helpful to have records of your injuries and your recovery. This could include psychological effects. The record of your injuries can include videos and photos.  

A record can help to work out how much compensation you could be due, and could include details of:

• your symptoms
• your healing process
• discomfort
• the effect on everyday life
• ongoing issues
• medical treatment

^{Last updated 31.05.23}