RIDDOR reporting: what is reportable, who reports and by when

What RIDDOR is

RIDDOR stands for the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013. It applies across Great Britain. Its purpose is to tell the enforcing authority, which is HSE or your local council depending on the kind of premises, that something serious has happened at work so that it can decide whether to look into it.

Most accidents are not reportable. A report is needed only when two things are both true:

• The accident was work-related. It arose "out of or in connection with work": the way the work was done, the equipment or substances used, or the condition of the premises played a part. An accident is not work-related merely because it happened on your premises.
• The result is on the list. A death, one of the specified injuries, more than seven days away from normal work, and so on.

Under RIDDOR an accident is a separate, identifiable, unintended incident that causes physical injury, and it includes an act of physical violence to a person at work. An injury that builds up gradually, such as a bad back from months of lifting, is not an accident in this sense.

Being reportable has nothing to do with blame. An accident can be reportable when no law was broken and nobody was at fault.

Who must report: the responsible person

The regulations put the duty on the "responsible person". Who that is depends on who was hurt.

Agency workers need care. Where the agency is the legal employer, the agency reports. Where the worker is self-employed, the host business reports as the person in control of the premises. HSE's advice is to agree in advance who will do it.

Injured people, their families and members of the public should not use the RIDDOR system. They can raise a concern with HSE instead.

What is reportable under RIDDOR

Deaths

The death of any person, worker or not, as a result of a work-related accident, and any death from exposure at work to a biological agent. If an employee dies within a year from an injury that was reportable, the employer must notify the death, whether or not the original injury was reported. HSE's guidance is that suicides are not reportable.

Specified injuries to workers

Regulation 4 lists the specified injuries. This is the full list:

• any bone fracture diagnosed by a doctor, other than to a finger, thumb or toe
• amputation of an arm, hand, finger, thumb, leg, foot or toe
• any injury diagnosed by a doctor as likely to cause permanent blinding or reduction in sight in one or both eyes
• any crush injury to the head or torso causing damage to the brain or to internal organs in the chest or abdomen
• any burn injury, including scalding, which covers more than 10% of the body's surface or causes significant damage to the eyes, respiratory system or other vital organs
• any degree of scalping requiring hospital treatment
• loss of consciousness caused by head injury or asphyxia
• any other injury arising from working in an enclosed space which leads to hypothermia or heat-induced illness, or requires resuscitation or admittance to hospital for more than 24 hours

A fracture counts when a doctor diagnoses it or considers it likely. A suspected fracture that the person has diagnosed themselves does not.

Over-seven-day injuries to workers

Any work-related accident that leaves a worker "incapacitated for routine work" for more than seven consecutive days. The day of the accident is not counted. Weekends, rest days and holidays are. The test is whether the person can do their normal job, so someone at work on light duties still counts as incapacitated.

Injuries to people who are not at work

A member of the public, customer, visitor or volunteer who is injured in a work-related accident and is taken from the scene to hospital for treatment of that injury. How they get there does not matter: a lift from a friend counts the same as an ambulance. Being taken to hospital purely as a precaution, with no apparent injury, is not reportable.

Occupational diseases

A doctor's diagnosis, given in writing for an employee, of any of these where the person's current work involves the stated exposure:

• carpal tunnel syndrome, where the work involves regular use of percussive or vibrating tools
• cramp in the hand or forearm, where the work involves prolonged periods of repetitive movement of the fingers, hand or arm
• occupational dermatitis, where the work involves significant or regular exposure to a known skin sensitiser or irritant
• hand-arm vibration syndrome, where the work involves regular use of percussive or vibrating tools, or holding materials that are subject to percussive or vibrating processes
• occupational asthma, where the work involves significant or regular exposure to a known respiratory sensitiser
• tendonitis or tenosynovitis in the hand or forearm, where the work is physically demanding and involves frequent, repetitive movements
• any cancer attributed to exposure at work to a known human carcinogen or mutagen, including ionising radiation
• any disease attributed to exposure at work to a biological agent

Dangerous occurrences

These are specific near misses with the potential to kill or seriously injure, listed in Schedule 2. They are reportable even if nobody was hurt. The ones most likely to arise in a small business are:

• the collapse, overturning or failure of a load-bearing part of lifting equipment such as a crane, hoist or lift truck (the failure of a sling or chain on its own is not included)
• the failure of a pressure vessel or its pipework where that could cause a death
• plant or equipment touching an overhead power line above 200 volts, or coming close enough to cause a discharge
• an electrical short circuit or overload causing a fire or explosion that stops the plant for more than 24 hours or creates a significant risk of death
• the collapse or partial collapse of a substantial part of a scaffold more than 5 metres high
• in construction, demolition, refurbishment or maintenance work, the unintended collapse of any floor or wall, or of any structure involving a fall of more than 5 tonnes of material
• the unintended collapse or partial collapse of any falsework
• any explosion or fire that stops plant or suspends normal work for more than 24 hours
• the sudden, uncontrolled release of a large quantity of flammable liquid or gas: inside a building, 100 kg or more of flammable liquid or 10 kg or more of flammable gas, and in the open air 500 kg or more of either
• the accidental release or escape of any substance that could injure someone
• the malfunction of breathing apparatus in use, or in testing immediately before use, where it puts the user at significant risk

Mines, quarries, railways and offshore sites have additional lists of their own. A near miss that is not on the list does not have to be reported, though it is still worth writing down: see our guide to near miss reporting.

Gas incidents

Gas distributors, fillers, importers and suppliers must report a death, a loss of consciousness or a person being taken to hospital because of an injury connected with the gas they supplied. Gas Safe registered engineers must report gas fittings they find to be dangerous because of their design, construction, installation, modification or servicing.

What is not reportable

Regulation 14 excludes injuries arising from medical or dental treatment, injuries to members of the armed forces on duty, and most road traffic accidents. An injury caused by a moving vehicle on a public road is reportable only if the person was loading or unloading the vehicle, working on or alongside the road, hurt by a substance the vehicle was carrying, or the accident involved a train. HSE's guidance also says that work-related stress is not reportable, because RIDDOR covers physical injury.

RIDDOR time limits

In practice, submitting the online form as soon as you know an incident is reportable does both jobs: it is the notification and the report.

The over-three-day rule: record, do not report

An injury that keeps a worker from their normal work for more than three days, but not more than seven, does not have to be reported. It does have to be recorded. Under regulation 12 you must keep a record of any work-related injury that leaves a worker unable to do their normal work for more than three consecutive days, not counting the day of the accident. The record needs the date and time, the person's full name, occupation and injury, the place and a brief description of what happened.

HSE's guidance is that an entry in your accident book is enough for this, if you keep one.

How to report under RIDDOR

Online. HSE's guidance is that all incidents can be reported online. There are separate forms for an injury, a dangerous occurrence, a case of disease, a flammable gas incident and a dangerous gas fitting, all reached from HSE's page on how to make a RIDDOR report.

By telephone. For a fatal accident or a specified injury to a worker only, you can phone the Incident Contact Centre on 0345 300 9923, Monday to Friday, 8.30 am to 5 pm. Nothing else can be reported by phone.

Out of hours. HSE is not an emergency service. For a work-related death, a serious incident with several casualties, or one causing major disruption, HSE's duty officer is on 0151 922 9235. Anything less serious can go on the online form.

Before you start, have these to hand: the date, time and exact place; the injured person's name, job and employment status; the injury; and a clear account of what happened. The description you wrote on your own accident report form will do.

When you submit the form you see a confirmation screen with a reference number and a button to download a copy as a PDF. HSE no longer emails a copy, so download it there and then. To correct a report later, submit the form again with the original reference number at the start of the description.

What records to keep and for how long

Regulation 12 requires the responsible person to keep a record of every reportable incident, every reportable diagnosis and every over-three-day injury.

• How long: at least three years from the date the record was made.
• Where: at the place where the work is carried on, or at your usual place of business.
• What: the downloaded copy of the online form meets the requirement. If you do not keep that, HSE says your record must include the date and method of reporting, the date, time and place of the event, personal details of those involved and a brief description of what happened or of the disease.
• Format: none is laid down. Any record you already keep for another purpose counts, provided it holds those details.

The enforcing authority can ask for extracts from the record. For where this sits among everything else you hold, see health and safety documents and how long to keep them.

Common mistakes with RIDDOR

• Counting working days. The seven days are consecutive calendar days, so weekends and rest days count.
• Treating light duties as "back at work". If the person cannot do their normal job, the clock is still running.
• Forgetting the follow-up. Nobody checks on day eight, and an over-seven-day injury is found out a month later.
• Assuming a broken finger is a specified injury. Fractures to fingers, thumbs and toes are excluded. They become reportable only if the person is off normal work for more than seven days.
• Reporting every hospital visit by a member of the public. It is reportable only if the accident was work-related, there was an injury, and the person was taken from the scene to hospital for treatment. Someone who goes to their GP the next day is not covered.
• Thinking "it happened here, so it is ours to report". An employee who twists an ankle stepping out of their car in a sound, well-lit car park has not had a work-related accident.
• Reporting road accidents. A driver hurt in a collision on a public road is a matter for the police, not RIDDOR, unless one of the exceptions applies.
• Treating the accident book as the report. Writing it in the book does not tell HSE anything.
• Waiting for the investigation. The deadline runs from the incident, not from when you have worked out the cause.
• Expecting HSE to tell the insurer. It does not. If a claim is possible, tell your insurer yourself.

Recording the incident in SafetyPro360

SafetyPro360 does not submit RIDDOR reports. Reporting to HSE is done on HSE's website. What SafetyPro360 holds is your own record of the incident: the type, date, time, site and exactly where it happened, what happened, what was done straight away, who was hurt, the injury and treatment, witnesses, the root cause, a severity and a status from reported through to closed. It can be entered on a phone. If you download HSE's copy of a submitted report, you can upload it as a document so that the two are held in the same account.

Questions people ask