RIDDOR is the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013. These Regulations require employers, the self-employed and those in control of premises to report specified workplace incidents.
The regulations require “responsible persons” to report deaths at work, major injuries caused by accidents at work, injuries to persons not at work that require hospital treatment, injuries arising from accidents in hospitals, and dangerous occurrences.
Responsible persons are generally employers but also include various managers and occupiers of premises. Though the regulations do not impose a specific obligation on employees, they have a general obligation under section 7 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 to take care of safety. The Health and Safety Executive recommends that they report incidents to their employer and encourages voluntary notification to the relevant regulating authority.
Breach of the regulations is a crime, punishable on summary conviction with a fine of up to £400. If convicted on indictment in the Crown Court, an offender can be sentenced to an unlimited fine. Either an individual or a corporation can be punished and sentencing practice is published by the Sentencing Guidelines Council. For example, in 2000, Salford City Council were fined £115,000 for a breach of the regulations.
Notification must be made by a responsible person to the relevant enforcing authority which is a body, possibly the local government authority, to which the HSE has delegated its powers. Notification must be made
— when any person, not necessarily an employee:
- Dies as a result of an accident at work;
— or, when any person other than an employee suffers:
- An injury as a result of an accident at work and that person has to be taken to hospital; or
- A major injury as a result of an accident at work that takes place at a hospital;
— or, when an employee:
- Suffers a major injury as a result of an accident at work; or
- Is incapacitated, either under his contract of employment or for seven consecutive days (three days prior to 6 April 2012), because of an accident at work;
— or, there is a dangerous occurrence.
“Accident” includes assaults on employees and suicides on transport systems. The report must be made by the “quickest practicable means” and confirmed by a written report within ten days. When an accident at work results in a reportable injury that, within a year of the accident, causes the death of the employee, the death itself must be reported, even if the accident and injury have already been reported.
On occasions, an injury may caused a member of staff to be off work for more than seven working days, or prevent them from completing their normal work duties. If this situation arises then the company must notify the enforcing authority of the incident. When calculating the seven consecutive days, the day of the accident is not counted but the period after is, including weekends. For example, if an employee normally works Monday to Friday, is injured on a Tuesday and does not return to work until the following Thursday, then the incident will be required to be reported. This is because he/she will have been off work for eight days i.e. Wednesday to Wednesday inclusive.
According to the RIDDOR, such accidents must be reported in which an employee or self-employed person is away from work or cannot perform their normal duties for more than seven consecutive days because of their injuries. According to the rules, the day of the accident is not included in this seven day period. However, it does include the weekends and rest days. Such an accident must be reported to the RIDDOR within 15 days of the accident.
