Notifying the Defence Accident Investigation Branch
When a fatality, accident, serious incident, or near miss occurs, the Defence Accident Investigation Branch (DAIB) must be notified immediately.
Anyone who is involved in or witnesses a serious accident, incident or near miss involving the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) should contact the DAIB. Predominantly, the notification phone number will be used by military personnel and MOD civil servants or any of the accident investigation branches within the UK, or accident branches internationally where UK MOD personnel are involved in on-duty activity.
When a fatality, accident, serious incident, or near miss occurs, the Defence Accident Investigation Branch (DAIB) must be notified immediately on 01980 348622.
The number is monitored 24/7 and the duty staff will take the details of the occurrence and make an initial assessment of whether the DAIB should deploy investigators.
When deciding whether an accident or incident should be reported to the DAIB, consideration should be given to: the extent and level of any injuries sustained; any impact on or loss of operational capability; the significance of any environmental damage following the incident; the potential impact on Departmental reputation and, any early assessment of whether lessons might be learnt by Defence. If you are unsure whether an accident or incident warrants DAIB involvement then you should inform the DAIB duty staff on 01980 348622 and seek further guidance.
In the event of a fatality or serious injury as a result of Defence activity or activity within the Defence Estate, the immediate action is the notification of the emergency services or, when on operations, action in accordance with equivalent emergency contingency protocol, and then to contact DAIB.
When to notify the DAIB
The DAIB should be notified immediately of the following to enable triage and determination of further investigation:
(a) Fatalities and serious injuries.
All potentially safety-related accidents and serious incidents which result in the death or serious injury of a Service person or a civilian where it is related to MOD employment, activity or estate.
(b) Aviation accidents.
Any accident resulting in an aircraft sustaining Category 4 or 5 damage. Any accident where an aviation system or process has failed and has compromised safety to Defence personnel or the general public.
(c) Maritime accidents.
Any accident that causes entire or partial disablement of a ship or submarine for service, e.g. collision, grounding, explosion, serious fire or serious flood. Any accident where a maritime system has failed and has compromised safety to Defence personnel or the general public.
(d) Land accidents.
Any accident where a land system has failed and has compromised safety to Defence personnel or the general public.
(e) Ordnance, munitions and explosives.
Any unintended initiation of ordnance, munitions or explosives resulting in damage to MOD or public property or compromised safety to Defence personnel or the general public.
(f) Fire.
Any serious fire resulting in significant damage to MOD or public property. g. Nuclear. Any nuclear accident rated 3 or above on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale.
(g) Environmental incidents.
Any environmental incident rated as Category 1 or 2 on the Environmental Agency’s scale or local equivalent level. (Notably this is an area that is under-reported upon in terms of notification to the DAIB). i. Heat illness and cold injury. In accordance with JSP 375, Chapter 41 and Chapter 42, the DAIB must be notified of all suspected or confirmed instances of heat illness and cold injury.
(h) Near misses.
Any incident during which death, serious injury or significant loss of capability has been narrowly avoided.
About the DAIB
The DAIB, within the Defence Safety Authority (DSA), provides Defence with an independent, multi-modal accident and incident investigation capability. Able to deploy worldwide, the DAIB is on standby 24/7 to conduct impartial and expert no-blame safety investigations across the maritime, land and air domains. The DAIB also provides unified tracking of safety investigation recommendations through to closure. The DAIB is based at MOD Boscombe Down.
The Director General DSA requires notification as soon as possible of all potentially safety-related accidents and serious incidents which result in the death or serious injury of a Service person or a civilian where it is related to MOD employment, activity or estate, and / or any significant loss of operational capability.