Harrow Council has reported an 8% increase in workplace incidents during the 2025-2026 reporting year, with a total of 524 incidents recorded. This rise is attributed to an improved reporting culture, following training for 530 staff on incident reporting procedures. The council's definition of a 'workplace incident' encompasses all near misses, not just accidents,
including categories such as accidents with injury, violent or aggressive behaviour, near misses without injury, safeguarding concerns, and medical incidents.
The most frequent incident categories were injuries, with 202 reported, and violence or aggression, with 193 incidents. The top five most frequently occurring injuries were Bruising/Bump/Swelling (72 cases), Stress/Trauma/Shock (59 cases), Pain/Ache (58 cases), Sprain/Strain/Pull/Twist (20 cases), and Cut/Laceration (19 cases).
Many of the violence and aggression incidents involved Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) passengers during transport. These incidents primarily occurred in areas such as Adults & Public Health (51), Culture Environment & Economy (69), and Harrow Schools (42). Of these, 22 were reported to the police. The report further details that these incidents were mainly lower-level cases involving challenging behaviour, verbal abuse, aggression, threats, or isolated behavioural episodes that were managed at the time through de-escalation or monitoring.
Despite the increase in reported incidents, the number of RIDDOR (Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations) incidents remained low, with six recorded during the period. The report lists Accident (Injury)
as a category with 203 incidents, and the RIDDOR breakdown mentions Specified Injury (Fracture)
and Injury (Concussion)
as reasons for reporting.
The council's Health and Safety Strategy for 2025-2028 remains a key focus. The plans for the current year include the implementation of a new audit programme, a focus on manual handling, and continued efforts to strengthen health and safety communications and reporting culture. For 2026-2027, the council plans to focus on themes such as lone working
and violence and aggression.
This includes developing a red flag database
to alert staff to potential risks in the community based on past incidents of violence or aggression against staff.
The 8% increase in reported incidents to 524 was attributed to an improved reporting culture following training for 530 staff on how to report incidents and where to go to report them. The report states, This rise may indicate improved reporting practices and greater awareness among staff; however, continued emphasis will be placed on consistent and accurate reporting through ongoing communication and targeted refresher sessions to ensure all incidents are captured effectively.
Public reports pack Wednesday 29-Jul-2026 18.30 Employees Consultative Forum.pdf