You should keep a record of all accidents that occur on your premises. This will allow you to monitor the type and frequency of accidents. It will also allow you to review trends .

HSE's revised accident book, BI 510 is now available. This revised book allows you to record workplace accidents, while maintaining the privacy requirements of the injured person. The completed form in the Accident book contains information about health and safety, which, if used appropriately, can help improve health and safety performance.

Employers will wish to reconcile two issues: to ensure that those who need the information have access to it, while preserving individual's confidentiality where they wish it. For this reason the new form has a section where the injured person can agree to their safety representatives having access to their personal details. If the injured person does not agree, the relevant information should still be provided, but it must be in an anonymous format.

However, the best solutions are likely where procedures on how to manage the information contained in the Accident book are consulted upon with safety representatives and/or employees.

With this in mind, all parties in your organisation who have a role in improving health and safety should have access to, and be able to use, the information contained in the Accident book.

The book also contains lots of useful information about preventing accidents from happening in the first place. There is lots of useful information on first aid and how to manage health and safety in your workplace, as well as information about employers' duties under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR).

The book also contains a copy of the leaflet, An Introduction to health and safety (INDG259), which is a great starting point for anyone new to health and safety management.