Requirements to investigate accidents reported on British Waterways regulated areas

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Dear British Waterways Board,

What legal responsibility has BW to investigate reported accidents and incidents of safety concerns when on thier area of responsibility / land space - water space.

Please to save time be a detailed as possible rather than qouteing the whole act/s.

Yours faithfully,

edward surridge

Information Request,

Dear Mr Surridge,

Thank you for your e-mail of 27th September.

I have now read through your correspondence below and, although this is headed Freedom of Information Act, I understand that your request is not a request for “information” for the purpose of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Furthermore, the Freedom of Information Act does not require an authority to provide explanations, comments, or justification.

However, I am able to confirm that there is no legal duty to investigate accidents, incidents or safety concerns. There is a legal duty to report certain accident/incidents to the regulating authorities. BW reports the appropriate incidents to Health and Safety Executive (HSE) under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1996 (RIDDOR) and certain marine accidents to Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) under Merchant Shipping (Accident Reporting and Investigation) Regulations 2005.

BW's own internal reporting and investigation procedures follow accepted best practice and we require all reported accidents, incidents and near misses to have appropriate action taken which in most cases includes some form of investigation. This applies to all of our undertaking including, if an accident happens to someone we owe a duty of care to, off our property.

Kind regards,

Sarina Young
Customer Service Co-Ordinator
British Waterways  |  The Kiln  |  Mather Road  |  Newark  |  NG24 1FB  | Tel:  01636 675740 | Mob:  07785 295 274 | Fax:  01636 705584 |
Find out more about the exciting new waterways charity for England and Wales here http://www.britishwaterways.co.uk/charity
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