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Health & Safety Privacy Notice

How we use your personal information for accident and incident reporting purposes (health and safety)

The Council provides services for local communities and the people who live in them. Undertaking this work means that we must collect and use information about the people we provide services to and keep a record of those services. Because we collect and use personal information about individuals we must make sure that they know what we intend to do with their information and who it may be shared with. 

We have summarised in this privacy notice some of the key ways in which we use your personal information for accident / incident reporting purposes. This information should be read in conjunction with the Council’s corporate privacy notice

 1. Who are we, what we do.

The Council has a legal obligation for ensuring the health and safety of its employees and members of the public who access Council services and premises, or who may be affected by its activities.

Part of this legal obligation is met by ensuring that the Council has proper policies and procedures in place to manage the Councils incident / accident process, by:

  • Centrally recording all incidents
  • Investigating certain incidents / accidents
  • Identifying trends and making recommendations to help prevent further incidents / accidents.

This function is conducted throughout all Council service areas. The Health and Safety Team has overall responsibility for this, and also acts as the ‘responsible person’ for reporting required incidents / accidents to the Health and Safety Executive.

 2.    What and whose personal information we hold?

The information the Council collects and uses for the above purpose will vary depending on the type of incident or accident that has taken place and who is involved. This may involve employees, agency workers, contractors, visitors, clients, members of the public, and include pupils and other young persons.

Typically we will collect and use the following information: 

  • Contact information of the person who has been injured or involved in the incident, for example name, address, telephone number, age
  • Occupation if you are a member of staff or a contractor and ‘status’ if you are a service user, pupil or visitor for example
  • Details of the incident / accident, for example time, date, location
  • Details of any injuries, first aid provided, and hospital treatment received.

In certain circumstances, we may contact someone you recommend who could support you, for example to take you home if required. We would only do this with your permission, unless the situation is urgent and medical emergency services need to be contacted.

As part of our review of the incident /accident and any investigation we may also need further information such as:

  • Witness information such as statements of what they saw, their name, address, contact details and if relevant, information about their relationship with the person involved in the incident  
  • We may obtain copies of any CCTV recording if available
  • Health or medical information relating to the injured person
  • Your education / training, for example if you are a member of staff and it is relevant to an investigation, for example to find out if you have received appropriate training to undertake certain duties. 

 3.    Where does the service get my information from?

Should a person experience an incident /accident on any of our premises or as a result of one of our work activities, we ask them to complete an incident /accident report form, known as HS5(A).

In the vast majority of cases the information needed to populate this form is provided to us by the person involved in the incident/accident. But if this is not possible, for example due to the nature of their injury or due to their age, for example nursery school pupils, an officer of the Council or a representative such as a family member may assist the individual in the completion or the form.

In terms of any additional supporting information that may be required as part of our review or investigation, this information could be provided from a variety of sources. For example: 

  • The public, for example potential witness
  • Council CCTV Department
  • Medical information from the individual it concerns

 4.    What we will do with your personal information?

The information is used to:

  • Create an official record of the incident / accident that has taken place.
  • Support a further investigation of the circumstances of the incident / accident with the aim of identifying the root cause and where relevant making recommendations to prevent a recurrence.
  • For analysis / statistical purposes, to help us identify any trends and areas for future improvement / action.
  • Produce reports on the number and types of accidents received for use by Cabinet Members and senior officers within the Council.  Typically these reports will contain facts and figures and will not contain any personal identifiable information.
  • Where applicable, notify and report the incident / accident to the Health and Safety Executive (as required by law). 

 5.    What is the legal basis for the use of this information?

Data Protection law says that we are allowed to use and share personal information only where we have a proper and lawful reason for doing so.

Our lawful basis for processing personal information for incident/accident purposes is: 

  • To comply with our legal obligations
  • To comply with our statutory obligations / official functions (public interest)

For more sensitive information (i.e. special category information about a person’s race, ethnic origin, politics, religion, trade union membership, genetics, biometrics, health, sex life or orientation) our lawful basis is:   

  • To undertake our legal and statutory duties in the field of employment and social security and social protection law.
  • For reasons of substantial public interest based on Member state law 

Relevant legislation include but are not limited to:   

  • Health and Safety at Work etc. Act, 1974 and 
  • Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR)
  • Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999
  • Social Security law requires the keeping of an accident book (B1510)

 6.    Does the service share my personal information with any other organisation? 

  • We may share limited information about the incident/accident with other people or organisations where we need further information from them as part of our investigation. This information will typically include time, date, location and nature of the incident / accident etc.
  • If required, we may need to share your details with emergency services, for example if you urgently require medical attention. We may also need to share with law enforcement agencies such as the Police if it is a criminal matter.
  • We will share information, for example relating to the outcome of any review / investigation, with the relevant service (e.g. senior managers within the service where the accident/incident took place). This allows the service the opportunity to learn lessons from the incident and where necessary introduce control measures to prevent re-occurrence.
  • We will share information with the Health and Safety Executive where the incident / accident is notifiable / reportable under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR).
  • We will share reports on accident / incident trends etc. with Cabinet Members and senior officers within the Council. As mentioned above these reports are unlikely to contain any personal identifiable information.
  • If an Insurance claim is being (or is likely to be) made we will also share information with the Council’s Insurance Section and third party insurers to support the claims process (see Insurance privacy notice for further information).

 7.    How long will my information be kept? 

Data will ordinarily be kept for at least 3 years after the date of the incident / accident. Where the injured person is under 18 this will be 3 years from their 18th birthday.

 8.    Your information, your rights

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) gives you important rights, including the right to access the personal information the services hold about you.

View further details on your information rights and how to exercise them 

 9.    Contact us

If you have any concerns or would like to know more about how the service using your personal information please contact us in one of the following ways:

By email: healthandsafetyteam@rctcbc.gov.uk

By telephone: 01443 425531

In writing: Health and Safety Team, Human Resources, Ty Elai, Dinas Isaf East, Williamstown, Tonypandy. CF40 1NY