How To Report An Accident Under RIDDOR

RIDDOR stands for the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations. The RIDDOR regulations make the reporting of certain accidents, incidents and work-related diseases a legal requirement.

Not every accident or incident will need to be reported, you only need to worry if it's RIDDOR reportable. But if you have a death, major injury, 7-day injury, hurt a member of the public, or if someone develops a work-related disease, then it will probably come under RIDDOR.

Once you know an accident or incident is RIDDOR reportable, you need to report it - it's a legal requirement.

RIDDOR Reporting Responsibilities

It is the "responsible person" who must report under RIDDOR. This includes employers, the self-employed and people in control of work premises. The responsible person should submit reports under RIDDOR.

(1) In these Regulations, the “responsible person” is—

1. in relation to an injury, death or dangerous occurrence reportable under regulation 4, 5, 6 or 7 or recordable under regulation 12(1)(b) involving—
   • (i) an employee, that employee’s employer; or
   • (ii) a person not at work or a self-employed person, or in relation to any other dangerous occurrence, the person who by means of their carrying on any undertaking was in control of the premises where the reportable or recordable incident happened, at the time it happened; [...]

When an employee is injured, the responsible person under RIDDOR is their employer.

Injuries to people not at work or self-employed (who don't have an employer at the time of the incident) will be reported by the person in control of the premises. Remember, RIDDOR only applies to workplace injuries, but a report must still be made if a member of the public or self-employed person is injured as a result of your business activities - even if they were not working for you.

A RIDDOR report is only required when:

• The accident is work-related
• It results in an injury of a type which is reportable

We cover what types of injuries, diseases and other incidents you need to report in what injuries at work are RIDDOR reportable? In summary, the things that need to be reported are:

• Deaths
• Major injuries
• 7-day injuries
• Injuries to the public
• Diseases
• Dangerous occurrences

Find out more about what you need to report in what injuries at work are RIDDOR reportable.

Reporting to the HSE

If you have a RIDDOR reportable injury, disease, or dangerous occurrence, you need to report it to the HSE.

And you need to report it within the RIDDOR timescales, which are fairly quick. Often, you need to do the initial RIDDOR report without delay/blog/paperwork/riddor-reporting-timescales-explained and 10-15 days for the full report.

The HSE is Britain's national regulator for workplace health and safety, and they use this data to keep an eye on health and safety statistics and to investigate and take action when they deem it necessary, e.g. if they suspect the accident is the result of health and safety breaches.

The HSE must be informed of RIDDOR incidents, it's a legal requirement. If you don't comply with the regulations, the HSE have the power to take enforcement action, including fines and prosecution.

Fines for breaching RIDDOR have ranged from £500 to over £100k for more serious reporting failures.

The HSE can also fine businesses without prosecution for minor breaches under the Fee for Intervention (FFI).

How to make a RIDDOR Report

Once you know an accident or incident is RIDDOR reportable, you need to report it. Because RIDDOR is a legal requirement, you must make your report as soon as possible.

Most RIDDOR reports should be made online via the HSE website. There are several forms available for the various types of reportable injuries and incidents under RIDDOR. If you need to submit a RIDDOR report, you can find the HSE report forms here.

The type of information that will need to be reported includes:

• The date and time of the accident or incident
• Details of the person injured
• The place where the accident or incident happened
• A description of the circumstances
• The date of notification
• The method of notification

There are different ways in which you must report an accident under RIDDOR, depending on the type of injury. There are certain deadlines by which reports need to be made, depending on what you are reporting.

All incidents can be reported online but a telephone service is also provided for reporting fatal and specified injuries only, during office hours.

When reporting an accident under RIDDOR, it is important to make sure that the incident or resulting injury is reportable, and that the report is made within the required timeframe.

Some injuries are required to be notified immediately, some have a longer timeframe for reporting and can be up to 15 days, or even longer in the case of diseases that may not be immediately apparent.

The timeframes for reportable injuries and incidents are:

• Deaths (report immediately)
• Major injuries (report immediately)
• Injuries lasting more than 7 days - Incidents resulting in a person being off work (or unable to perform their normal work duties) for more than 7 consecutive days (report within 15 days)
• Injuries to members of the public where they are taken from the scene of the accident to hospital (report immediately)
• Dangerous occurrences (report immediately)
• Diseases (report as soon as possible)

Report Online

All incidents can be reported online through the HSE website. This is the quickest and standard way to submit a RIDDOR report, and the online form will ask for all the necessary information.

• HSE RIDDOR Online Report ↗️

Report By Telephone

All incidents can be reported online but a telephone service is also provided for reporting fatal and specified injuries only, during office hours. This can't be used for other types of RIDDOR reports.

• HSE RIDDOR Telephone Report ↗️

How to get a copy of a RIDDOR report

You must keep your own records under RIDDOR, along with reporting to the HSE. You can keep a copy of the online RIDDOR form for your records.

To get your copy of your RIDDOR from the HSE, you'll need to click 'Download to PDF' once you have submitted the form online. They no longer email you a copy of the form.

If you do not keep a copy of the online form, your records must include:

• the date and method of reporting
• the date, time and place of the event
• personal details of those involved
• a brief description of the nature of the event or disease

HSE guidance suggests that the accident book is a good place to keep these records. And since your accident book will need to be completed for an accident anyway, it saves on keeping duplicate records.

---

For more information on RIDDOR, you can take our RIDDOR elearning course. On successful completion of the course, you can download a certificate for your training records.