Accident Reporting

Nearly half of all workplace accidents go without being reported, due to concern of the
repercussions, complacency, not knowing how to correctly report the accident along with a
myriad of other reasons. The issue with this is that not reporting accidents protects neither
yourself nor your workplace. If further down the line, the initial accident were to cause follow
up issues, then having no previous record of it means loss of evidence that it occurred, and
no measures have been taken to reduce the risk of it occurring again.

RIDDOR – Reporting of Injuries, Diseases & Dangerous Occurrences

Regulations 2013
RIDDOR is the law that requires employers, and other people in control of work premises, to
report and keep records of:

work-related accidents which cause death;

work-related accidents which cause certain serious injuries (reportable injuries);
diagnosed cases of certain industrial diseases;
certain ‘dangerous occurrences’ (incidents with the potential to cause harm).

What must be reported? Work-related accidents

For the purposes of RIDDOR, an accident is a separate, identifiable, unintended incident that
causes physical injury. This specifically includes acts of non-consensual violence to people at
work. Not all accidents need to be reported, a RIDDOR report is required only when:

the accident is work-related; and

it results in an injury of a type which is reportable.

The key issues to consider are whether the accident was related to
work.
The way the work was organised, carried out or supervised.
Any machinery, plant, substances, or equipment used for work.
The condition of the premises where the accident happened.

If none of these factors are relevant to the incident, it is likely that a report will not be
required.

How much time have I got to submit a report?

Most types of incident, including:

accidents resulting in the death of any person;

specified injuries to workers;
non-fatal accidents requiring hospital treatment to non-workers; and
dangerous occurrences

require a report to be submitted within 10 days.

Where an accident results in a worker being incapacitated for over 7 days, the enforcing
authority must be notified within 15 days of the incident.

How to report
Online: Go to www.hse.gov.uk/riddor and complete the appropriate online report form. The
form will then be submitted directly to the RIDDOR database. You will receive a copy for your
records.

Telephone: All incidents can be reported online but a telephone service remains for reporting
fatal and specified injuries only. Call the Incident Contact Centre on 0845 300 9923 (opening
hours Monday to Friday 8.30am to 5pm).

For full details of what consists of a REPORTABLE INURY, and a REPORTABLE OCCUPATIONAL
DISEASE use the following link to the HSE website, it is a short but concise document that
may one day help you and others, so we consider it a valuable
read: http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg453.pdf