Consequences Of Not Reporting RIDDOR

The reporting of injuries, diseases, and dangerous occurrences in the workplace is taken very seriously by HSE and if you fail to report an incident the consequences can be very severe. The consequences of not reporting RIDDOR depend on the seriousness of the incident. The courts can impose a custodial prison sentence of up to 2 years for the responsible person, or persons, and an unlimited fine for the business.

It is not worth taking the chance. Failure to report an accident at work can have a major impact on you, personally, and your business. This is why it is so important to understand your responsibilities.

Even when you do your utmost best to provide a safe environment for your employees to work in, sometimes accidents do happen. Be prepared. Know what your responsibilities are what to do when they happen - and act quickly.

We’ve written this article, to break it all down into understandable segments on information for you.

An Explanation Of RIDDOR

RIDDOR stands for the Reporting of Injuries Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) defines RIDDOR as:

“RIDDOR puts duties on employers, the self-employed and people in control of work premises (the Responsible Person) to report certain serious workplace accidents, occupational diseases and specified dangerous occurrences (near misses).”

Workplace Accidents Explained

Just to clarify, workplace accidents are seen to be separate incidents causing physical injury that are identifiable and unintended.

They don’t include ‘having a bad back from repetitive heavy lifting’, or a ‘headache because of noise in the workplace’. These may, however, need to be addressed under training or the provision of personal protective equipment.

The injury may, however, be a result of violence at work. But remember, only accidents that happen in connection with work need to be reported under RIDDOR.

Just because an accident happens in work premises does not automatically mean it was work-related. Work activity must have played a significant part, such as:

• The way work was carried out
• Any machinery, plant, substances or equipment used for the work
• The condition of the site or premises where it happened

What You Need To Report

Injuries

Reportable injuries include:

• The death of any person
• Specified injuries to workers:
  • fractures, other than to fingers, thumbs and toes
  • amputations
  • any injury likely to lead to permanent loss of sight or reduction in sight
  • any crush injury to the head or torso causing damage to the brain or internal organs
  • serious burns (including scalding) which:
    • covers more than 10% of the body
    • causes significant damage to the eyes, respiratory system or other vital organs
  • any scalping requiring hospital treatment
  • any loss of consciousness caused by head injury or asphyxia
  • any other injury arising from working in an enclosed space which:
    • leads to hypothermia or heat-induced illness
    • requires resuscitation or admittance to hospital for more than 24 hours
• Injuries to workers that result in their incapacitation for more than 7 days
  • This seven-day period does not include the day of the accident but does include weekends and rest days.
• Injuries to non-workers which result in them being taken directly to hospital for treatment – for example, a visitor to your premises being injured by a fork-lift truck within the workplace.

Occupational Diseases

Reportable occupational diseases include:

• carpal tunnel syndrome
• severe cramp of the hand or forearm
• occupational dermatitis
• hand-arm vibration syndrome
• occupational asthma
• tendonitis or tenosynovitis of the hand or forearm
• any occupational cancer
• any disease attributed to an occupational exposure to a biological agent

Dangerous Occurrences

Reportable dangerous occurrences are near-miss events and there are 27 categories listed. The most common being:

• the collapse, overturning or failure of load-bearing parts of lifts and lifting equipment;
• plant or equipment coming into contact with overhead power lines;
• the accidental release of any substance which could cause injury to any person.

Who Is Responsible For Reporting RIDDOR?

An employer, or someone in control of premises is responsible for reporting incidents. If you are an employer, you must report any work-related deaths, and certain work-related injuries, cases of disease, and near misses involving your employees wherever they are working.

If you are in control of premises, you must report any work-related deaths, certain injuries to members of the public and self-employed people on your premises, and dangerous occurrences (some near miss incidents) that occur on your premises.

There are also specific HSE requirements for:

• Self-employed
• Employment agencies
• Gas suppliers
• Gas engineers

Further HSE guidance on who should report can be found here.

How Quickly You Need To Report To The HSE

You should report incidents, diseases or dangerous occurrences as soon as possible. Be aware there are some time limits applied by HSE.

For most types of incident, a report must be received within 10 days of the incident.  Incidents including:

• accidents resulting in the death of any person
• accidents resulting in specified injuries to workers
• non-fatal accidents requiring hospital treatment to non-workers and
• dangerous occurrences

The responsible person must notify the enforcing authority without delay. This is most easily done by reporting online here.

Alternatively, for fatal accidents or accidents resulting in specified injuries to workers only, you can phone 0345 300 9923.

For accidents resulting in the over-seven-day incapacitation of a worker, you must notify the enforcing authority within 15 days of the incident, using the appropriate online form.
Cases of occupational disease should be reported as soon as the responsible person receives a diagnosis, using the online form

Then What?

You had a reportable incident.

You reported it to HSE, now what?

If the incident was serious enough and resulted in serious injury or death, then the HSE will certainly investigate the matter further.

If it was not that serious, they will probably not investigate further at this point. They may, however, monitor the situation and review further if you have a recurrence of similar incidents. These would imply you are not fully in control of Health and Safety matters.

It is your responsibility to ensure the safety of your staff. So, if an incident occurred that required reporting under RIDDOR you should review your policies and procedures to see if this was something you could, or should, have foreseen.

• Did you carry out a risk assessment?
• Was there a health and safety manual and policy in place to cover this occurrence?
• Do you need to set something in place to ensure this does not happen again? A written policy, a written procedure.
• Did you keep a record of any reportable injury, disease or dangerous occurrence?

You should print and save a copy of the online HSE form you complete. A copy of the form will be automatically emailed to the email address provided by you but it is best to save a copy in case of any entry mistakes.

The HSE do not inform your insurance company when you submit a report. However, you may be required under your insurance policy to inform them yourself in case of any future claim. Please check.

If You Need Help…

If it all seems a bit overwhelming don’t worry! Help is at hand. We are well known for making Health & Safety understandable.

Whether you’re improving your safety standards or dealing with a major incident, our Health and Safety Consultants can guide you through it all. Let Park City ease the load with professional outsourced Health & Safety services, from Health & Safety experts.

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