Is it RIDDOR reportable?

First test: is it work related?

RIDDOR only bites where the accident arises out of or in connection with work. That means the injury has to be linked to the way the work was organised, the plant or substances used, or the condition of the premises. A worker who trips on a defective floor is reportable if the other tests are met. A worker who faints from an unrelated medical condition and is injured only by the fall is a harder call, and the HSE guidance is that a purely medical event is not reportable unless the work contributed.

Violence at work counts. A physical assault on a worker that causes a reportable injury is reportable in the same way as any other accident.

Everything that is not reportable still has to be written down, which is what the accident book and record keeping rules cover.

Specified injuries

Specified injuries to workers are listed in regulation 4 and are always reportable. They are the serious end of the scale.

• Fractures other than to fingers, thumbs and toes.
• Amputation of an arm, hand, finger, thumb, leg, foot or toe.
• Permanent loss or reduction of sight.
• Crush injuries to the head or torso causing damage to the brain or internal organs.
• Serious burns covering more than ten per cent of the body or damaging the eyes, respiratory system or other vital organs.
• Scalpings requiring hospital treatment.
• Loss of consciousness caused by head injury or asphyxia.
• Any injury from working in an enclosed space that leads to hypothermia, heat induced illness or requires resuscitation or a hospital stay of more than twenty four hours.

If the same kind of injury keeps appearing, revisit your first aid needs assessment as well as the controls.

The over seven day rule

If a worker is incapacitated for more than seven consecutive days, not counting the day of the accident but counting weekends and rest days, the injury is reportable within fifteen days of the accident. Incapacitated means unable to perform the full range of their normal duties, so light duties count as incapacity.

Separately, you must record any injury that keeps a worker off or on restricted duties for more than three consecutive days. That record is not a report to the HSE. For most employers the accident book entry satisfies it.

A report is also a trigger event for review, so read it alongside what a risk assessment legally needs to include.

Members of the public

An injury to someone who is not at work is reportable if the accident is work related and the person is taken from the scene directly to hospital for treatment of that injury. Treatment means treatment, not a precautionary check. If they are examined and sent home with no treatment given, it is not reportable, although you should still record it and investigate.

This catches schools, gyms, leisure centres, retail and hospitality far more often than they expect, because the trigger is the ambulance journey rather than the severity of the injury.

Occupational diseases

You must report certain diagnoses where the work is a likely cause and you have received a written diagnosis from a doctor. The list includes carpal tunnel syndrome where work involves regular use of vibrating tools, hand arm vibration syndrome, occupational dermatitis, occupational asthma, tendonitis of the hand or forearm from repetitive work, and any occupational cancer or disease attributed to an occupational exposure to a biological agent.

A written diagnosis is the trigger, not a worker's suspicion. This is why exposure records for vibration and noise matter so much: they are the evidence that tells you whether the work is a likely cause.

Dangerous occurrences and gas incidents

Twenty seven categories of dangerous occurrence must be reported even where nobody is hurt. The common ones are the collapse or overturning of lifting equipment, the failure of any load bearing part of a lift or hoist, plant coming into contact with overhead power lines, the accidental release of a substance that could injure health, scaffold collapse above five metres, and unintentional explosions or fires that stop work for more than twenty four hours.

Registered gas fitters have their own duty to report dangerous gas fittings, and gas suppliers must report certain incidents involving gas they supplied.

Who reports, how and by when

The responsible person reports. That is the employer for its own employees, the self employed person or whoever controls the premises where the work took place for others. For agency workers it is normally the business that supervises the work, not the agency.

Reports are made online through the HSE reporting forms. Fatal and specified injuries can also be phoned through on the HSE incident line during office hours. Keep a copy of the submitted report with the investigation file, and keep records of all reportable events for at least three years.

If you are not sure, report it. There is no penalty for an over report, and a late report of a reportable event is an offence.

Common questions

Is a worker going to hospital automatically reportable?

No. For workers the test is the injury type or the seven day incapacity, not the hospital visit. The hospital test applies to members of the public.

Do I count the day of the accident in the seven days?

No. Counting starts the day after the accident and includes weekends, rest days and bank holidays.

What if the injury gets worse after we decided not to report?

Report it as soon as it crosses a threshold. The fifteen day clock for an over seven day injury runs from the accident date, so review absences weekly.

Related guides

• accident book and record keeping rules
• first aid needs assessment
• what a risk assessment legally needs to include