PRIME Accident & Incident Reporting – “Easy & Quick”

The Forestry Commission (FC) is the government department responsible for protecting and expanding forests and woodlands inBritainand is a world leader in the development of sustainable forestry.  It is the largest single land manager in Britain and the guardian of some of our most beautiful forest, and woodland habitats.

The Commission has a vital role in timber production and supporting the forestry sector.  It is the largest producer of wood with more than 5 million tonnes of timber every year (almost 44% ofUK wood production).  The FC is also the biggest single provider of countryside recreation in across Great Britainwith more than 50 million visitors every year to the national forest estate.  It manages over 2,600 km of cycle trails and has 55 visitor centres, almost 500 car parks and maintains over 24,000 km of forest roads – that’s seven times bigger than the length of Britain’s motorways.  

When it comes to delivering recreation, regeneration and educational programmes, the Commission works in partnership with a vast range of partners including: private sector landowners; sports clubs; local authorities; national businesses and, of course, local communities.

The FC employs approximately 3200 people and manages numerous contractors and volunteer groups.

John Ireland, FC Head of Safety, Health & Environment, comments:  “After a full tendering exercise, the Forestry Commission chose the PRIME web-based accident and incident reporting system. It will replace our previous method which had evolved from a paper based system. The new system will make it easier and quicker for our staff to process incidents and accidents and produce real-time statistics”. 

“The web-based form will be very straightforward to use and can be used by all staff with access to the FC computer system.  The system asks for details of the incident, the Management Unit and the people involved. The details in the system act as both a record and a prompt to further investigation and support”.

John continued:  ”One of the other main advantages of the PRIME web-based system is that it is easier for Forestry Commission staff to report ‘near misses’.  This means that we are more likely to learn from ‘non injury’ incidents in the future.  This is all good health & safety practice and will be key in helping the organisation identify and tackle potential future accident hot spots”.