General Safety FAQ – Safety Incident Management (SIM)
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What do we mean by “safety incident”?
The term is defined in Safety Regulation SR-SIM, “Responsibilities in matters of safety incident management at CERN” (https://edms.cern.ch/ui/file/2583792/LAST_RELEASED/SR-SIM_EN.pdf).
Safety incident: an unintended event or situation that has non-negligible, negative consequences or potential consequences from the point of view of safety. The term “safety incident” covers radiological events, deviations, unsafe situations, near misses and accidents, including commuting accidents.
What’s the difference between an accident and a near miss?
The terms are defined in Safety Regulation SR-SIM, “Responsibilities in matters of safety incident management at CERN” (https://edms.cern.ch/ui/file/2583792/LAST_RELEASED/SR-SIM_EN.pdf).
Accident: an unintended event resulting in injuries to persons, material damage or a negative impact on the environment.
Near miss: an unintended event that could have led to an accident.
How do you report a safety incident, including an unsafe situation or a near miss?
All safety incidents must be reported using the “Incident Declaration” form in EDH within 24 hours of the occurrence or discovery of the Safety Incident, whichever is the earlier (see Admin e-guide https://admin-eguide.web.cern.ch/en/procedure/declaration-safety-incidents).
To facilitate the processing of your report, it is important that you stick to the facts, are precise about what happened (location, victim’s activities, etc.) and include photos if possible. It is essential to report unsafe situations and near misses so that preventive action can be taken and accidents avoided.
What’s the purpose of reporting a safety incident?
The reporting of safety incidents enables CERN to put corrective or preventive measures in place as part of its continuous improvement approach to safety. In this context, safety officers are called upon to carry out analyses and propose preventive measures where necessary (https://edh.cern.ch/Document/General/IncidentDeclaration).
What is the “Declaration of Occupational Accident” form, which can be found in EDH?
The “Declaration of Occupational Accident” form in EDH must be completed within 10 working days of the accident if you have been the victim of a safety incident resulting in bodily injury:
- in the course of your professional activities;
- in an accident on your commute to or from work.
A medical certificate must be attached to the declaration (see Admin e-guide https://admin-eguide.web.cern.ch/en/professional-accident-and-medical-certificate).