FORCING employers to investigate workplace accidents will be a pointless exercise unless they are also obliged to act on their findings, warn lawyers.

The Health and Safety Commission is proposing a new duty on employers to investigate accidents, dangerous incidents and diseases.

But the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) has expressed grave concern that the proposed duty includes no clear provision for using investigation findings to prevent similar accidents from happening again.

"We fully support any move to improve workplace safety and believe employers should be made to carry out an investigation if a member of staff is injured," said APIL secretary Mark Harvey.

"But it is equally important that the results of any investigation are used to pinpoint why the accident happened in the first place, and to take steps to prevent a recurrence.

"For this reason, we believe the HSC should re-think the draft duty and include provisions which make it absolutely explicit that employers should act upon investigation findings wherever necessary," he said.

APIL has also urged the HSC to introduce an approved code of practice which would provide guidance for employers responsible for investigating and recording accidents.

"We mustn't forget that many employers will have little or no experience in accident investigation," said Mr Harvey.