Workers' Liberty

In depots, stations and offices across the Underground, managers are busily removing Accident Books. They reckon that recording staff accidents is adequately covered in the EIRF (Electronic Incident Reporting Form) system.

It's possible that EIRF meets the legal requirements for recording accidents, but Tubeworker can not help but think that subsuming staff accidents at work into a general incident-reporting system will mean they get less profile and therefore even less priority. They will be recorded alongside everything from service disruptions to ticket office closures to one-unders.

Obviously, there are advantages to the electronic recording of accidents - for example, the increased capacity for statistical analysis and comparison. But why not use Accident books and EIRFs? Duplication? Maybe. But a bit of duplication is surely worth it to ensure that the accidents we suffer in our workplaces - many of them unnecessary and due to management negligence - are properly reported so we are more able to insist they are properly addressed.