Over 200 minor health and safety incidents in Derry and Strabane council

Derry and Strabane Council had 236 reported health and safety incidents in 2022 to 2023.

Of these 236 incidents only four met the criteria for incidents that are required to be reported to the HSENI, the lowest of the nine years included in the report.

Of the four reported to HSENI two affected Council staff and two affected members of the public.

Incidents affecting staff made up 85 of the total incidents while 143 affected members of the public and eight were marked as 'other'. This includes the 232 minor incidents, which did not need to be reported to HSENI.

The figures come from a report presented to the council’s Assurance, Audit and Risk Committee on Monday, 20 November.

Speaking at the meeting Niall McGinn, Council Health and Safety Officer said: “The purpose of this report is to provide member with an update on the health and safety management systems and processes, following the Corporate Health, Safety and Wellbeing Committee meeting on 7 November, to seek members' continued support and endorsement for health and safety management systems in place within Derry City and Strabane District Council.

“The Corporate Health, Safety and Wellbeing Committee meets on a quarterly basis and is chaired by the Chief Executive, and is also attended by the Directors, Lead Officers and Union representatives.

“The Committee forms an important part of the ISO 45001 system review and provides Corporate Health and Safety with the opportunity to update senior management within DCSDC on the progress of Health and Safety performance throughout the organisation.”

Councillor Declan Norris asked Mr McGinn how incidents are classified.

“It's good to have the incident report there. You can see the reporting of injuries and dangerous diseases. How do you break your reporting down? eg. by near misses, first aid treatments, medical treatments, fatalities.”

Mr McGinn said the council breaks down the incidents in an accident report form.

“We currently have an accident report form that breaks it down into near misses or the type of accidents in which it relates to and that then feeds into ourselves at Corporate Health and Safety, which we put in the relevant section and incident category.

“Our new accident, incident, and investigation system is also in development and now is being rolled out throughout Council, which then is able to provide that breakdown further and be able to provide reports on that but I'd be happy to give examples of it to yourself through that.”

Cllr Norris also asked how serious the four incidents reported the HSENI were. These incidents are known as RIDDORs (Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations).

“How serious were the four RIDDORs that are there now?”

Mr McGinn did not elaborate beyond saying the incidents met the criteria to be reported.

“The RIDDORs have to hit a certain criteria and we are then obliged to provide that detail to the HSENI then they report back to us in relation to the action that needs to be taken or if they're satisfied, to close out.

“In relation to the RIDDORs that were provided the HSENI was satisfied with the documentation and the relevant information and were closed out. Again, I'll be happy to provide you with the relevant details in relation to those RIDDORs as well.”