RIDDOR

RIDDOR – Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013

RIDDOR puts duties on employers, the self-employed and people in control of work premises (the Responsible Person) to report certain serious workplace accidents, occupational diseases and specified dangerous occurrences (near misses).

If you are an employer:

If you are an employer, you must report any work-related deaths, and certain work-related injuries, cases of disease, and near misses involving your employees wherever they are working.

If you are in control of premises,

If you are in control of premises, you must report any work-related deaths, certain injuries to members of the public and self-employed people on your premises, and dangerous occurrences (some near miss incidents) that occur on your premises.

If you are self-employed:

If you are working in someone else’s work premises and suffer either a specified injury or an over-seven-day injury, then the person in control of the premises will be responsible for reporting, so, where possible, you should make sure they know about it.

If there is a reportable accident while you are working on your own premises or in domestic premises, or if a doctor tells you that you have a work-related disease or condition, then you need to report it.

Regulations 4 – 6 cover the reporting of work-related deaths and injuries other than for certain gas incidents RIDDOR requires deaths and injuries to be reported only when:

  • there has been anaccident which caused the injury
  • the accident waswork-related
  • the injury is of a type which isreportable

What is an ‘accident’?

In relation to RIDDOR, an accident is a separate, identifiable, unintended incident, which causes physical injury. This specifically includes acts of non-consensual violence to people at work.

Injuries themselves, eg ‘feeling a sharp twinge’, are not accidents. There must be an identifiable external event that causes the injury, eg a falling object striking someone. Cumulative exposures to hazards, which eventually cause injury (eg repetitive lifting), are not classed as ‘accidents’ under RIDDOR.

What is meant by ‘work-related’?

RIDDOR only requires you to report accidents if they happen ‘out of or in connection with work’. The fact that there is an accident at work premises does not, in itself, mean that the accident is work-related – the work activity itself must contribute to the accident. An accident is ‘work-related’ if any of the following played a significant role:

  • the way the work was carried out
  • any machinery, plant, substances or equipment used for the work or
  • the condition of the site or premises where the accident happened

What are ‘reportable’ injuries?

The following injuries are reportable under RIDDOR when they result from a work-related accident:

  • The death of any person
  • Specified Injuries
  • Injuries to workers which result in theirincapacitation for more than 7 days
  • Injuries to non-workers which result in thembeing taken directly to hospital for treatment, or specified injuries to non-workers which occur on hospital premises.