A brief guide to the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurences Regulations 1995

by Redmans on September 21, 2013

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In this post we’re going to take a look at the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (“RIDDOR”), which set out the duties for reporting serious accidents and injuries to the Health and Safety Executive and local authorities. We’re going to examine the following:

  1. When does RIDDOR apply?
  2. How do RIDDOR and the Health and Safety at Work inter-relate?
  3. What must an organisation do if there’s an accident at work?

When does RIDDOR apply?

RIDDOR requires employers and other designated persons to report certain types of injury, occupational diseases and dangerous occurrences that “arise out of or in connection with work”. This generally covers accidents or incidents that are in some way related to work activities.

Under RIDDOR employers must report to the Health and Safety Executive and local authority injuries that lead to one of their workers being absent or unable to do the work they would normally be expected to do for a period of seven consecutive days (not including the day of the accident but including weekends and rest days). The employer must make a report of the accident within fifteen days of the accident occurring.

A report must generally be made if one of the following occurs:

  1. The death of any person, whether they are or are not at work
  2. Accidents which result in an employee or self-employed person dying, suffering a major injuring, being absent from work or unable to undertake their normal duties for a period of seven days
  3. Accidents which involve a non-worker (i.e. a visitor or a customer etc.) suffering an accident and being taken to hospital or, if they were not taken a hospital, injuries which would have normally necessitated a hospital visit
  4. An employee or self-employed person suffering from an occupational disease
  5. Dangerous occurrences which may not have resulted in an injury but have the potential to cause harm

How do RIDDOR and the Health and Safety at Work inter-relate?

There are often circumstances in which there is an accident at work and the employer is liable for both civil and criminal actions under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (you only need to look at the almost-daily press releases from the Health and Safety Executive to confirm this). However, there are sometimes accidents in the workplace which may not engage the reporting requirements of RIDDOR but nevertheless may still trigger action under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

What must an organisation do if there’s an accident at work?

If there’s an accident (which doesn’t involve death or an industrial disease) at work involving a worker then the person responsible for reporting accidents under RIDDOR should do the following (among other things):

  1. Investigate the causes and effect of the accident
  2. Create a report of the accident
  3. Determine how serious the workers’ injuries are
  4. Wait to see how long the worker is off work for
  5. If the worker is off work for a period of three days or more then file an internal report on the accident
  6. If the worker is off work for a period of seven days or more then file a report with the Health and Safety Executive and local authority within 15 days of the accident

Chris Hadrill, an employment law solicitor at Redmans, commented: “The reporting obligations that employers are subject to under RIDDOR may seem onerous at first glance but the purpose of the Health and Safety Executive is to reduce preventable injuries to workers in the workplace and the reporting requirements allow the HSE to track the number of accidents at work and punish employers who are in violation of health and safety legislation.”

Redmans Solicitors are employment law solicitors in Richmond and are specialist unfair dismissal solicitors

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Tagged as: accidents at work, health and safety, HSE

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