July 2021 Monthly Blog – Notifiable accidents
Way back in the day as a rookie health & safety adviser, I realised I’d caused confusion to a manager whilst talking to him about Reportable Accidents.
“Surely all accidents have to be reported?” he asked.
Well yes, of course, all accidents have to be properly investigated and reported internally so that we can learn lessons and prevent a recurrence. Some, however also have to be reported externally to the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) because of their unusual severity – or potential for severity.
Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations
The applicable legislation is called the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations, shortened to RIDDOR.
When you read statistics that (e.g.), in 2019/2020:
- Nearly 700,000 UK workers were injured,
- 111 workers suffered fatal injuries,
- 1.6 million working people suffered from work-related ill health,
it’s only thanks to employers reporting such to the HSE. (The HSE also acknowledges that a certain amount of under-reporting takes place).
What has to be reported?
In a nutshell, you must report:
- Work-related deaths,
- Certain serious injuries,
- Diagnosed cases of industrial diseases (which includes COVID-19 if contracted by occupational exposure),
- Certain “dangerous occurrences” i.e. near-miss incidents,
- Injuries to workers which result in their incapacitation for more than seven days,
- Injuries to non-workers which result in them being taken directly to hospital for treatment or specified
- injuries to non-workers which occur on hospital premises.
The HSE website provides full details, and reporting is very straightforward online. The HSE also maintains a telephone hotline for reporting work-related fatal accidents or accidents resulting in specified injuries to workers only.
When must it be reported?
Reports should normally be submitted within ten days includes weekends.
Can’t be bothered?
Don’t forget that hospitals talk to authorities, so don’t be surprised that, if one of your employees' returns from A&E Department, the HSE may have been tipped off about a suspected accident in your workplace.
If an injured employee or member of the public goes on to claim compensation, you don’t want the HSE’s first notification to arrive outside of the ten-day reporting period from a firm of solicitors!
If there are any grey areas about whether or not to notify an incident, err on the side of caution by over-reporting, rather than under-reporting. For clarification, speak to your Arinite consultant.
The HSE lack resources to investigate every single incident, and will only contact you if they have concerns over something that sounds serious.
If your premises are covered by local authority enforcing officers (e.g. low-risk offices, shops, warehouses), they will review RIDDOR reports that come their way and assess whether the report – or a cluster of recent reports – merits a visit to your site. Failure to report carries personal and company penalties.
Contact us
Arinite clients appreciate we provide practical, no-nonsense advice about what you need to do to establish and maintain a safe and healthy working environment. Our team of health and safety consultants take pride in keeping health and safety simple.
If you need to call upon our expert assistance, or just for an informal chat, please call our office 0207 947 9581, or type an enquiry to: https://www.arinite.com/contact-us/.
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