Accidents, incidents reported on 39 Transport Scotland projects: EIR release

Information requested

Reported (a) accidents and (b) incidents, broken down by (i) near miss and (ii) undesired circumstance reported on the following projects.”
We asked you to clarify your request on 16 July for timescales of the requested information and a definition of accidents, incidents and undersirable circumstances and to provide examples.
You clarified on 16 July with the following;
“Timescales: years 2008 – 2018, information broken down by year.
Accident: any unplanned event that resulted in injury or ill health of people, or damage or loss to property, plant, materials or the environment or a loss of business opportunity
Incident: a work-related event(s) in which an injury or ill health (regardless of severity) or fatality occurred, or could have occurred
Undesirable circumstance: a set of conditions or circumstances that have the potential to cause injury or ill health”

 

Response

Annex A details the amount of reported accidents / incidents, broken down by (i) near miss and (ii) undesired circumstance reported on 39 Transport Scotland projects.
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we do not have some of the information you have requested.  Therefore we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs.  The reasons why that exception applies is that some projects were completed before the timeframe requested.
In relation to the A96 Inveramsay Bridge and A9 Kincraig to Dalraddy projects, while our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance Transport Scotland does not have the information you have requested as the contractors do not hold this information in the format requested.  Therefore we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs.  Under the terms of the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held), Transport Scotland is not required to provide information which it does not have. 
This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’.  Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption.  We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption.  While we recognise there may be some public interest in reporting of accidents and incidents relating to plant and machinery, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

However,  in order to be helpful, we have provided information held by the contractor, which is contained within Annex A. It may also be useful to know that individual contractors have their own systems for reporting and classification of incidents. The information provided within Annex A, is provided by the contractor to us as part of their project reports. For further information an undesired circumstance is a set of conditions or circumstances that have the potential to cause injury or ill health.

It may be useful to note that similar information is available in the Performance Audit Group’s Annual Report 2017/18, Chapter 4 Quality of Service, Health and Safety. http://www.performanceauditgroup.co.uk/publicat.htm

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

foi-19-01805 Annex A

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