How does RIDDOR help support injury claimants?

RIDDOR enables the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to gather information about serious work-related accidents and to investigate risks.

The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR) place a legal duty on employers to notify the appropriate enforcing authority of any work-related accidents that cause, or may have caused, serious injury.

Reporting major incidents allows enforcing authorities to assess the risks associated with certain work tasks. It also allows authorities and employers to learn and provide targeted advice on how to prevent similar accidents in the future.

What is reportable?

All work-related activities are covered by RIDDOR. However, only the following incidents are legally reportable:

• Work-related deaths
• Work-related accidents that cause serious injury
• Accidents that result in a worker being away from work for more than seven consecutive days
• Diagnosed industrial diseases
• Certain types of gas incidents
• Injuries that result in non-workers being taken directly to hospital for treatment
• Dangerous occurrences and near-miss events

How to report an incident

Incidents should be reported using the relevant form. The HSE provide an online form for this purpose. Fatalities and major injuries can also be reported via telephone to the Health and Safety Executive. Further guidance may be found on the Health and Safety Executive website.

What is the time limit for reporting an incident?

Reportable incidents should be notified without delay. A report must be received:

• Within 10 days of the incident for fatalities and major injuries
• Within 15 days of the incident where the worker is absent for more than seven days
• As soon as a diagnosis is made in the case of occupational disease

What records does an employer need to keep?

Employers must keep a written or electronic record of any reportable incident including:

• The date, time and place of the incident
• The date and method of reporting
• Personal details of the workers involved
• A brief description of the event, near miss or disease

Records must be kept for a minimum of three years although it is good practice to keep them for at least six years.

What happens after a notification is made?

Investigations will be undertaken by the relevant enforcing authority. This usually is the Health and Safety Executive, although it may be the Local Authority or Office of Rail Regulation depending on the location and circumstances of the incident.

Investigations typically focus on the most severe incidents, for example, those which result in death or serious injury, and those that feed into national health and safety concerns. The inspector will seek to find what went wrong and to improve processes both for the affected business and for other businesses in the same industry.

Injury claims and RIDDOR

The duty that RIDDOR places on employers to record and report injuries that result in serious injury can provide valuable evidence in respect of a work accident claim or industrial disease claim.

See also:

Industrial disease compensation claim

Work accident compensation claim

Employers' liability claims claims

Work accident claims, or employers' liability claims, differ from other types of claim. Click on the icons below to read more about claiming:

Work accidents Other accidents

Author:
Chris Salmon, Director

About the author

Chris Salmon is a co-founder and Director of Quittance Injury Claims. Chris has played key roles in the shaping and scaling of a number of legal services brands and is a regular commentator in the legal press.