The College and Union have a legal responsibility under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 to have effective arrangements in place to manage health and safety including the management of accidents, incidents, and near misses. In addition to the above, the College has a duty under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) to report certain types of injuries, diseases, and dangerous occurrences to the enforcing authorities.

This act outlines responsibilities that the Union and its volunteers (you) must uphold in relation to any accidents, incidents, and near misses that happen as a part of your student group activities. These include:

• A legal duty to take reasonable care of your own health and safety.
• You must also take reasonable care not to put other people (fellow students, members of staff and members of the public) at risk by what you do or don't do in the course of your group activities.
• You must report any accidents, incidents, injuries or illnesses anyone suffers from as a result of taking part in your groups activities or events (the Union may need to change the way you do things).
• You have a duty to report all accidents or near misses experienced at work.
• The Union has a responsibility to hold a record of anything reported and investigate them.

Investigating why accidents and incidents take place is part of building a positive health and safety culture. It helps the Union and committee leaders ensure lessons can be learnt and apply changes to avoid such things reoccurring.

If you are in an emergency off campus call 999, or if you are in an emergency on campus call Security on 020 7589 1000 from any phone or dial 4444 from any internal handset.

Of course, avoiding accident and incidents is the best policy which is why we have the risk management processes such as the annual activities proposal, events proposal form, and the trip proposal form.

Risk assessments help guide your thinking on how to minimise risks, and pre-plan what you would do if an accident did happen. Please ensure the people organising, delivering, or taking part in any of your CSP's activities, events, or trips know what the Risk Assessment includes. This way organisers won’t have to think on their feet in an emergency and individuals know how to handle hazards related to your activities.

You can read here the details of various types and definitions of accidents and incidents, including:

If a report form is for a serious or severe incident, the Union may be legally required to conduct an investigation. If not legally required, sometimes the Union may wish to conduct one to support the delivery of a positive health and safety culture or because it has had a significant impact on business continuity. The benefits of having an investigation is:

• Investigation of incidents and accidents is key to preventing future accidents.
• The investigation aims to identify causes and to make recommendations in order to prevent or minimise the possibility of it happening again.

If an investigation is necessary in relation to a report you have submitted, the Union will contact you with further information and will aim to conduct an investigation as swiftly as possible.