If an accident occurred at work, and you have not encountered such a situation before, then the step-by-step procedure for actions in the first 24 hours, which I will now tell you, can greatly help you.
This algorithm will help you organize your work correctly for the first 24 hours after the accident occurred and not get confused in a difficult situation, in which you need to act quickly and judiciously!
I will also explain the accounting, registration, procedure and timing of investigation of industrial accidents, and provide links to all the necessary details and nuances in additional materials on my blog.
I have a lot of experience, there are plenty of cases, so if anything is not included in the series of articles on this topic, please ask questions in the comments and supplement it with information from your practice.
Accident at work
I’ll start my story with how I interpret what NS is and then I’ll tell you what to do with this sad event.
An industrial accident is an unexpected event or occurrence that results in damage, injury or death to one or more people.
As a rule, an accident occurs due to inattention, negligence, failure to comply with safety regulations, or force majeure.
I suggest you watch a video in which I tell you in detail about the procedure of a labor protection specialist on the first day when an accident occurred at work, and also leave a link to my YouTube channel, where you can learn a lot of useful information about labor protection.
Actions of the employer in case of an accident at work
What should you do first? Procedure in case of an accident at work:
- the first thing to do is to immediately provide first aid to the victim; if you are afraid to take on such responsibility or do not want to cause more harm, call an ambulance;
- look around, assess the situation, if circumstances require it, you need to take the necessary measures to eliminate the emergency situation and protect other employees in order to prevent further injury to people;
- you need to try to leave the situation the same as at the time of the incident, the most important thing is that it does not threaten the health or lives of people;
- take photographs of the scene of the incident, because in the future these photographs will be very useful to you if you are an occupational safety specialist or the head of one of the departments or the entire enterprise. Indeed, in the process of investigation by the National Assembly, they can play an important role.
These are the first gestures that I advise the employer to make if such a precedent arises! The most important thing is not to get confused and follow the instructions.
Where to report an accident at work
How to start filing an accident at work and where to report it?
Be sure to report the incident in the prescribed form to the following authorities within one day:
- social insurance fund (any NS);
- labor inspection (severe, group, fatal accident);
- prosecutor's office (severe, group, fatal NS);
- city administration (severe, group, fatal NS);
- territorial body of trade unions (severe, group, deadly NS);
- relatives of the victims (any NS);
- Rostechnadzor (if the accident occurred at a hazardous production facility);
- Rospotrebnadzor (if an employee is poisoned).
If the accident is mild, then a message about the insured event is sent to the Social Insurance Fund.
Sample report of a minor accident
In all other cases, a notice of NS is prepared in accordance with Resolution No. 73 of October 24, 2002.
Sample notification of an accident
You must understand that it is very important to inform all authorities before the end of 24 hours from the moment of the incident, because otherwise it will be regarded as a concealment.
The fine in this case (Administrative Code Article 15.34):
- for citizens from 300 to 500 rubles;
- for officials from 500 to 1,000 rubles;
- for legal entities from 5,000 to 10,000 rubles.
And plus one more article. 5.27 Code of Administrative Offenses:
- for officials from 1,000 to 5,000 rubles;
- for individual entrepreneurs from 1,000 to 5,000 rubles;
- for legal entities from 30,000 to 50,000 rubles.
Perhaps the amount of the fine did not scare you, and you think that it’s okay if there is a delay. But imagine that this is just the beginning and you don’t know if everything is in order with the rest of your documents?! If there are more violations, then the amount of the fine may not be reasonable in the end.
There is nothing complicated in drawing up a notice, so don’t put it off for a long time. After all, even the very wording in the law “concealment” speaks for itself. The development of events during the investigation can proceed in the most unpredictable way, and no one wants to be subsequently accused of trying to hide the details of the accident. After all, this could be even worse than the above fines.
Therefore, registration of an industrial accident must be organized in accordance with the letter of the law.
Point No. 8. Circumstances of the accident.
You should start filling out this section by indicating local regulations confirming the existence of an employment relationship with the victim (employment contract, employment order). You should also indicate information about the working hours established for the victim with a break for rest and meals in accordance with the internal labor regulations, and in the case of shift work - the shift schedule on the day of the incident.
State the circumstances preceding the accident, describe the events and actions of the victim and other persons associated with the accident, as well as other information established during the investigation: who issued the task on the day of the incident, how the labor process proceeded, who supervised the work (organized it) ), what specific work and how the victim performed it. It is necessary to indicate witnesses and (or) eyewitnesses of the accident.
Outlining the sequence of events, indicate what caused the injury (a piece of equipment, a tool, a device, as a result of falling materials, collapse of structures, soil, overturning a stack, etc.) and the damaged part of the body.
The circumstances should be presented briefly, in a logical sequence, without cluttering with already known information and details not related to the accident, and it is necessary to state only what was established by the commission during the investigation. Assumptions, conjectures and dubious statements are not allowed in the act. The expressions “apparently”, “about 14 hours”, “apparently”, “approximately”, “one can assume”, and so on should not be used. This indicates that the data provided is unreliable.
A brief, superficial description of the circumstances, consisting of general phrases, makes it just as difficult to determine the causes of the accident as unjustified verbosity.
8.1. Type of incident.
The type of incident is indicated in accordance with the classifier approved by Order of the Federal Service for Labor and Employment of the Russian Federation dated February 21, 2005 No. 21 “On the procedure for submitting operational and analytical information on group accidents with severe consequences and other emergency incidents and on the state and causes of production injuries", for example
: road traffic accident, fall of a victim from a height, fall, collapse, collapse of objects, materials, earth, etc.
8.2. The nature of the injuries received and the organ that was damaged, a medical report on the severity of the damage to health.
Filled out on the basis of a “Medical report on the nature of health injuries received as a result of an industrial accident and the degree of their severity.”
The medical report is filled out in accordance with the Scheme for determining the severity of health damage in industrial accidents, approved by order of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of Russia dated February 24, 2005. No. 160, and is issued at the request of the employer by the medical organization immediately where the victim first sought medical help (ambulance and emergency medical care doctors do not fill out a medical report).
The employer is obliged to make a request to a medical institution within 24 hours to obtain an opinion on the nature of the injuries received. Victims sometimes have problems when examined at a medical and social examination institution due to the fact that the report does not indicate a medical report on damage to health.
For example: according to medical report No. XX, issued by XX.XX.XXXX municipal health care institution Clinical Hospital No.... g.o. Tolyatti, the injury falls into the category of severe (minor) injuries.
8.3. The victim is under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
“Yes” or “No” is indicated, as well as the degree of intoxication (based on the conclusion of a medical institution).
We recommend that employers, when contacting a medical institution with a request about the nature of the victim’s injuries, also request to issue a conclusion about the possible presence of the victim in a state of alcohol, narcotic or toxicological intoxication. (See clause 9.2. Sample request).
8.4. Eyewitnesses of the accident.
Indicate the surname, first name, patronymic, information about permanent residence; home telephone number (if available) of eyewitnesses of the accident.
An eyewitness is a person who witnessed with his own eyes the event that resulted in the accident.
A witness is a person who may know any circumstances relevant to the investigation of the accident. The witness may not have witnessed the accident.
Point No. 9. Causes of the accident.
Determining the cause(s) of an accident is one of the main goals of an investigation. The formulation of the cause must be clear, concise, technically competent, comply with state regulatory requirements for labor protection and logically follow from the analysis of the circumstances of the injury. The causes of the accident cannot be replaced by references to points and paragraphs of labor protection rules and instructions. The name of the reason must correspond to the classifier approved by the Order of the Federal Service for Labor and Employment of the Russian Federation dated February 21, 2005. No. 21 “On the procedure for submitting operational and analytical information on group accidents with severe consequences and other emergency incidents and on the status and causes of industrial injuries.”
There may be several reasons for an accident, but one of them is the main one, and it must be highlighted, putting it in first place among others.
The root cause is the one that resulted in the accident. Next, all secondary (concomitant) reasons are noted in order of their importance. Concomitant causes can contribute to and even advance the moment of an accident, but do not cause it.
The causes of the accident should not be confused with violations of state regulatory requirements by the responsible persons who committed these violations.
It is unacceptable to look for the causes of an accident in the inattention, negligence or other fault of the victim himself.
After determining the reason, it is necessary to indicate which paragraphs, clauses of current legislative and other regulatory legal acts, rules, instructions and other local regulations on labor protection are violated.
Clause No. 10. Persons who violated labor protection requirements.
This section identifies persons who violated current legislative and other regulatory legal acts, rules, instructions and other local regulations on labor protection, providing for their liability for violations, and whose actions or inactions became the main and concomitant cause of the accident. A large group of workers should not be classified as perpetrators of violations on the basis of formal signs; this only complicates the issue of holding them accountable.
Having named the surname, first name, patronymic, position, profession of the persons who committed violations of labor protection requirements, it is necessary to indicate which regulatory legal document on labor protection established his responsibilities, state their essence, specifically indicate the violations committed and which articles, paragraphs, clauses of the current legislative and they violated other regulatory legal acts, rules, instructions and other local regulations on labor protection.
An employee cannot be held responsible for failure to perform actions that are not within his competence or do not constitute his duties.
Persons from whom the commission for some reason did not take an explanation in connection with the accident should not be included among those who violated state regulatory requirements for labor protection.
If the fact of gross negligence of the victim is established, which contributed to the occurrence or increase of harm caused to his health, the degree of his guilt in percentage, determined by the commission for the investigation of industrial accidents, taking into account the conclusion of the trade union committee or other body authorized by the employees, is indicated.
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How to properly prepare a request to a medical institution
Also, within the first 24 hours, you need to prepare a request to a medical organization. Why is it so important to prepare and receive an answer so quickly?!
Everything is clear and transparent. The qualification of the accident, which must be indicated when reporting, will depend on the result in the conclusion. If there are other reasons why, you need to get an answer from the hospital.
The answer will give us an understanding of how to proceed further, what time frame you will have for investigating the accident, who we will include in the commission to investigate the industrial accident, and much more.
In addition, if the accident is severe, group or fatal, the number of notification authorities increases. For example, no one wants to be exposed to the prosecutor’s office once again, and if a medical organization confirms that the NS is mild, then there is no need to notify the prosecutor’s office.
What if he doesn’t confirm? I really don’t want to be late with a message, especially to the prosecutor’s office.
There is no specific form for such a request, but it is prepared in the name of the head of the medical institution with the obligatory clarification of whether the victim is in a state of alcohol, drug or toxic intoxication.
Sample request to hospital
As part of the investigation into the circumstances of the accident, this information must be provided to you even without the consent of the victim or his legal representative, despite the fact that this is a medical confidentiality.
If you have any questions, refer to clause 7, clause 4, article 13 of Federal Law No. 323 “On the fundamentals of protecting the health of citizens.” The hospital must provide you with a report on the nature of your health injuries immediately upon receipt of your request. It should, but often it doesn't!
Once again, this request must be received as soon as possible as it will indicate the severity that you need to include in your accident notice.
Therefore, call, go to the medical facility in person, but urge them to hurry up with the answer. There is no need for a fine or problems with the prosecutor's office.
How to fill out the notice?
As stated above, the sample tax notice is approved by Resolution of the Ministry of Labor No. 73. This sample is mandatory for use by all employers without exception. The notice consists of 7 lines, 5 of which are filled in by the employer when drawing up the document. The remaining 2 lines are filled in when sending the notice to its destination. The filling procedure is as follows:
- Full name of the legal entity, OKVED, address or full name of the individual, his registration data, address.
- Date and exact time of the incident. Indication of the circumstances (what work was performed, what happened).
- Total number of people affected.
- Full name of the employee, his age and profession.
- Type of damage and its severity.
- Full name of the responsible employee who transmitted the message. Date and exact time of transmission.
- Full name of the responsible employee who received the message. Date and exact time of acceptance.
The instructions for the notification form state that the document must be drawn up and submitted within 24 hours from the date of the accident at work. Also, according to the instructions, some data is indicated in the format of codes established by the corresponding classification. Such data includes: the work performed by the employee at the time of the incident; profession (position) of the victim; type of damage received. You can view a sample of filling out the document by following the link.
Occupational accident classification scheme
If a medical institution is delaying issuing a conclusion, and you are running out of time to send a notice, you can pre-classify it as mild or severe.
It is necessary to classify the accident in accordance with the order of the Ministry of Social Health Development No. 160; if it is not on the list of injuries classified as a serious accident, then it should be classified as mild.
Based on what happened, in any case, you can already roughly guess what kind of emergency happened.
If you cannot determine whether an accident is mild or severe, then it is better to send a notice to all authorities, classifying it as severe.
If the received medical report classifies the degree as mild, then a notification letter is sent, again to everyone, with a report from the medical institution attached.
As the saying goes: “It’s better to be safe than sorry.”
Order on the creation of a commission to investigate an industrial accident
During the first 24 hours after the accident occurred, it is necessary to prepare an order to create a commission to investigate the industrial accident.
The number of commission members must be odd and persons who are directly responsible for ensuring compliance with labor protection requirements at the facility where the accident occurred are not included in the commission.
Sample order to create a commission to investigate a minor accident
If you already know that the accident will be classified as minor, then the composition of the commission should consist of at least three people and be as follows:
1. The chairman is the head or his deputy head of the enterprise.
2. The members of the commission should include:
- employer representatives;
- a labor protection specialist or a person appointed responsible for organizing labor protection work;
- a representative of the elected body of the primary trade union organization or a similar body of workers;
- Occupational Safety and Health Commissioner;
- when investigating an accident with the insured - representatives of the Social Insurance Fund at the place of registration.
In this case, the investigation period for an industrial accident is 3 days.
If the accident is qualified as a group accident (two or more employees), a serious or fatal accident, then the composition of the commission must be formed of at least 5 people and be as follows:
1. The chairman is a representative of the State Labor Inspectorate, Rostekhnadzor (if the incident occurred at a hazardous production facility), Rospotrebnadzor (if acute poisoning occurred), etc.
2. The members of the commission should include:
- employer representatives;
- occupational safety specialist (if any);
- representative of the city administration;
- representative of the territorial body of trade unions;
- representative of the Social Insurance Fund;
- representative of Rostekhnadzor (if the incident occurred at a hazardous production facility);
- representative of Rospotrebnadzor (if acute poisoning has occurred).
Sample order to create a commission to investigate a group, serious or fatal accident
The investigation in this case lasts 15 days. There are opportunities to extend the investigation, but more on this in future articles.
In order to find out who to register as members of the commission, you need to prepare and send out requests.
Sample form of a request to send a representative to investigate an industrial accident
Our country is terribly bureaucratic, so we send it by e-mail with mandatory delivery by Russian Post.
For example, I always sent a request letter by e-mail and then called with a request to check my mail for a speedy response.
Because in Art. 229 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation has the following wording: “immediately forms a commission.” If the order is prepared later than 24 hours have passed since the accident occurred, then this will already be a violation. Therefore, the employer can be fined.
We save all correspondence, sent and received documentation in one common folder. We don’t throw anything away, everything can be useful in the future.
Fines for “failure to notify” about an accident to the relevant authorities
The manager bears administrative responsibility if he does not notify the relevant authorities about the incident, and the following fines may be imposed for this violation (Code of Administrative Offences, Article 15.34):
- enterprise or legal entity – 5000-10000;
- official 5000-10000;
- employee 300-500 rubles.
If, during the investigation, violations of legislation in the field of labor protection are revealed, a fine is imposed on the perpetrator:
- Official – up to 5 thousand.
- For entrepreneurs up to 5000 or production stop for up to 90 days.
- For legal entities – up to 50 thousand and also shutdown of the enterprise for up to 90 days.
In order to avoid unnecessary fines, the manager must initially organize labor protection at the enterprise in such a way as to minimize injuries at work. The following measures must also be taken:
- when employing an employee in an organization, at the induction briefing, explain to him the importance of timely notification of the manager about an accident, even if it is mild, and remind him of this at repeated and extraordinary briefings,
- appoint a person responsible (with mandatory duplication) who will notify management about accidents,
- send a labor protection specialist and all managers to special training in labor protection at least once every three years.
Return to content
Conclusion on work on the first day and what next
On the first day after an accident occurred at work, a lot of work needs to be done, they need to be compiled correctly and nothing should be forgotten.
Above, I tried not to miss anything and told what the registration of an industrial accident looks like and the employer’s actions in the first 24 hours when an accident occurs at the enterprise.
Therefore, we study the algorithm of work for the first day and do not relax, there will be even more work later.
I will introduce you to the following articles on how to build your work further, depending on the NS:
- Investigation of a minor accident: algorithm, terms of investigation, composition of the commission.
- Investigation of a group industrial accident. Subtleties of the investigation.
- Algorithm for investigating a serious accident at work: procedure, documents.
I wish you efficient and safe work!
If you have any difficulties completing the accident investigation documents, please contact us.
