Accident book template (UK): a free printable accident record page

Print a small stack of these and keep them in a folder in the office, not on the bar. Use one page per accident, whether it's staff or a customer, and file it away once it's complete. Use the button below or press Ctrl+P (Cmd+P on a Mac): only the page prints.

How to fill it in

• Do it within the hour, while people remember the time and who saw it. If the injured person can fill it in themselves, let them; otherwise write it for them and fill in the "recorded by" lines.
• Facts, not opinions. "Wet floor by the glass washer, no sign up" is useful. "Careless" isn't.
• Customers count too. Record their injuries as well as staff ones. Some customer injuries are reportable (see below), and a note made on the night is what you'll want if a letter arrives months later.
• Track the days off for staff injuries. That's what decides whether it needs recording or reporting under RIDDOR.
• Fill in the action line. The same burn from the same glass washer three times is a maintenance problem, not three accidents.

Who needs an accident book, and what it must say

The duty comes from social security law. Regulation 25 of the Social Security (Claims and Payments) Regulations 1979 says an employer with 10 or more people normally employed at the same time on or about the same premises must keep a means of recording accidents that cause personal injury. It can be in a book or electronic, and each record must be kept for at least 3 years from the date it was entered. HSE's plain-English version says businesses with more than 10 employees. Either way, a busy pub on a Saturday night will usually meet it, and smaller venues are wise to keep one anyway.

Schedule 4 of the regulations lists the particulars to record, and every one is on this page:

1. full name, address and occupation of the injured person
2. date and time of the accident
3. place where it happened
4. cause and nature of the injury
5. name, address and occupation of the person giving the notice, if it isn't the injured person

When it also needs reporting (RIDDOR)

The accident book is your record. RIDDOR is a separate duty to report certain incidents to HSE in Great Britain. In short:

• Staff: deaths and specified injuries (report within 10 days), and injuries that keep a worker off or on light duties for more than 7 consecutive days (within 15 days). Injuries over 3 days must be recorded but not reported, and the accident book covers that record.
• Customers and visitors: report if they're hurt in an accident connected with your work and taken directly from the scene to hospital for treatment. X-rays and examinations alone don't count as treatment; stitches, dressings and plaster casts do.

Northern Ireland has its own version of the regulations, enforced through HSENI, and still uses an over-3-day threshold for reporting. For examples, deadlines and the full detail, see our guide to the accident book and incident log for hospitality.

Keeping it private

Pre-printed books with every entry on show are the classic problem: whoever writes the next accident can read all the others. HSE says to protect people's personal details by storing records confidentially in a secure place, and the ICO treats health information as special category data under UK GDPR, which carries stricter rules.

In practice: one page per accident, a locked drawer or folder, access for the duty manager and owner only, and no photos of injuries in group chats.

Logging it on a phone instead

ShiftComplete lets anyone on shift log an incident from their phone in seconds, with a photo, a severity level and a status (open or resolved). Managers add resolution notes, and open incidents stay on the dashboard until someone deals with them. The weekly report counts incidents, and the full audit log exports to CSV. You still decide whether something is RIDDOR-reportable and make the report to HSE; ShiftComplete is where your team's record of what happened, and what you did about it, lives.

It's £1.49 per staff member per month, and free for 60 days with no card needed.