The accident and incident book

Incidents (next to On site) is your accident book. Record an accident, an illness or a near miss: when and where, which group if it was one of them, who was involved and how old they are, what happened, the injury, the first aid given, who dealt with it, what happened next and any witnesses. Times are UK time.

Who sees it. Anybody who can take bookings can record an incident — the first aider on duty may well be a helper — and can see and correct what they recorded until it’s closed. Injury details are health information, so the whole book is for owners and leaders only, the same rule as course participants’ health details. A booking shows that an incident happened and when, never the details.

Reporting and follow-up (owners and leaders): tick whether it’s reportable under RIDDOR and record when and with what reference it went to HSE; when it was reported to the Scouts and when the insurer was told; what’s been changed so it doesn’t happen again; and close it. The RIDDOR box is a note for your own records, not advice on whether something is reportable — HSE’s guidance is at hse.gov.uk/riddor. Each record prints on its own for an insurer or the Scouts, and Download the book gives the lot as a spreadsheet. Reports counts incidents by kind for any period.

How long records are kept. Nothing is deleted automatically. Each record says when it can go: three years after the incident, or, if the person was under 18, until they turn 21 — the usual guidance, because a child’s time to bring a claim only starts at 18. Once that date has passed an owner or leader can delete it, and the book tells you how many have. Before then it can’t be deleted, except in its first 24 hours if it was logged by mistake.