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The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) requires employers and the self-employed who are in control of work premises to report work-related accidents, diseases and dangerous occurrences to the HSE or (for businesses in Northern Ireland) the HSENI.
You need to report:
If there is an accident connected with work and your employee, a self-employed person working on your premises or a member of the public is killed or suffers a major injury (including as a result of physical violence), you must notify the enforcing authority without delay.
Reportable major injuries are:
Injuries that are not 'major' but last more than seven consecutive days (not counting the day of the accident but including non-work days) must be reported to the HSE within 15 days. This applies to accidents connected with work (including physical violence) involving workers or self-employed people working on your premises.
The incident should be noted in the business's accident book if the worker is off work for more than three days following the accident.
Injuries that are not 'major' but last more than three consecutive days (not counting the day of the accident but including non-work days) must be reported within ten days to the enforcing authority using form NI2508. This applies to accidents connected with work (including physical violence) involving employees or self-employed people working on your premises.
If a doctor notifies you that your worker (or in Northern Ireland, your employee) suffers from a reportable work-related disease, you must report it to the enforcing authority. In Northern Ireland, you must send a completed disease report form NI2508A to the enforcing authority.
Reportable diseases include:
A full list of reportable diseases is available on the HSE website. In Northern Ireland, you can contact the Employment Medical Advisory Service of the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland to check whether a disease is reportable. You can find out more information on the HSENI website.
A dangerous occurrence is something that did not result in a reportable injury but had the potential to do so. These near-miss events must be reported immediately.
In Northern Ireland, you must follow up your report within ten days by using a completed HSENI report form.
Reportable dangerous occurrences are:
1. Collapse, overturning or failure of load-bearing parts of lifts and lifting equipment
2. Explosion, collapse or bursting of any closed vessel or associated pipework
3. Failure of any freight container in any of its load-bearing parts
4. Plant or equipment coming into contact with overhead power lines
5. Electrical short circuit or overload causing fire or explosion
6. Any unintentional explosion such as a misfire, failure of an intended demolition, projection of material beyond a site boundary and any injuries caused by the explosion
7. Accidental release of a biological agent likely to cause severe human illness
8. Failure of industrial radiography or irradiation equipment to de-energise or return to its safe position after the intended exposure period
9. Malfunction of breathing apparatus while in use or during testing immediately before use
10. Failure or endangering of diving equipment, the trapping of a diver, an explosion near a diver, or an uncontrolled ascent
11. Collapse or partial collapse of a scaffold over five metres high, or erected near water where there could be a risk of drowning after a fall
12. Unintended collision of a train with any vehicle
13. Dangerous occurrence at a well (other than a water well)
14. Dangerous occurrence at a pipeline
15. Failure of any load-bearing fairground equipment, or derailment or unintended collision of cars or trains
16. A road tanker carrying a dangerous substance overturns, suffers serious damage, catches fire or the substance is released
17. A dangerous substance being conveyed by road is involved in a fire or released
The following dangerous occurrences are reportable except in relation to offshore workplaces:
1. Unintended collapse of any building or structure under construction, alteration or demolition where over five tonnes of material falls, collapse of a wall or floor in a place of work; any falsework
2. Explosion or fire causing suspension of normal work for over 24 hours
3. Sudden, uncontrolled release in a building of 100kg or more of flammable liquid, 10kg of flammable liquid above its boiling point, 10kg or more of flammable gas or of 500kg of these substances if the release is in the open air
4. Accidental release of any substance that may damage health
Note: additional categories of dangerous occurrences apply to mines, quarries, relevant transport systems (railways etc.) and offshore workplaces.
If you are a distributor, filler, importer or supplier of flammable gas and you learn, either directly or indirectly, that someone has died or suffered a 'major injury' in connection with the gas you distributed, filled, imported or supplied, then this must be reported immediately.
If you are an installer of gas appliances, and registered in the UK with the Gas Safe Register, you must provide details of any gas appliances or fittings that you consider to be dangerous to an extent that people could die or suffer a 'major injury'.
All incidents in England, Wales and Scotland can be reported online via the HSE website.
For further HSE guidance on RIDDOR see Reporting accidents and incidents at work and A guide to Reporting Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences.
Incidents in Northern Ireland should be reported by contacting the local office of the enforcing authority (usually HSENI) by telephone. They will ask for brief details about your business, the injured person and the accident. You must follow this up with a completed HSENI report form which can be obtained from the HSENI website.
You must keep a record of any reportable injury, disease or dangerous occurrence. This record must include the date, time and place of the event, personal details of those involved and a brief description of the nature of the event or disease. You can keep the record in any form you wish.
