RIDDOR
As an employer are you meeting your obligations with regard to accident reporting? It is a legal requirement to ensure that various types of incident are reported under the Reporting of Injuries Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR). They require that these incidents are reported to the local Enforcing Authority (The Health & Safety Executive or Local Authority).
As part of you commitment to health and safety RIDDOR specifically requires that reports are made within specific time scales and to the relevant Enforcing Authority. Previously this required an employer sending a written report to the Authority; however a report can now be dealt with by the HSE Incident Contact Centre. The quickest way to do this is to call the centre on 0845 300 99 23, reports can also be emailed or faxed to the ICC.
So what incidents must be notified?
If an incident results in any of the following outcomes it must be reported:-
Any fatality as a result of a work related incident.
A Major injury to a person at work as a result of a work related incident. These include fractures (other than to digits), amputations, dislocations of shoulder, hip, knee or spine, burns, loss of sight (inc temporary). Injuries which lead to unconsciousness or admittance to hospital for more than 24 hours are also included.
Any accident where a person not at work (i.e. member of the public) is taken to hospital for treatment.
A Dangerous Occurrence (an incident such as collapse of lifting equipment) Notification must be followed by a written report within 10 days – although the ICC can arrange this for you.
RIDDOR also has requirements to report the following incidents:-
Any absence from work for over 3 days where the cause of the absence is a personal injury which is not a specified major injury but results in absence from normal work for more than 3 consecutive days.
Any death of an employee which the death was as a result of a reportable accident within one year of the incident.
Occupational diseases – only certain types of disease have to reported and this is notified to the employer through the employee’s General practitioner.
It is important to remember that not all incidents have to be reported – those involving minor injuries which require treatment from the first aid kit or those resulting in less than three days off work and near misses do not require a formal report to the Enforcing Authority. However it is best practice for an employer to ensure these are reported ‘in-house’, this enables monitoring of safety performance which will help to prevent future accidents.
For more information on accident investigation and reporting contact First Health and Safety on 0844 888 3008, leaders in such courses as health and safety consultancy
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