The Reporting of Injuries Diseases and Dangerous Occurrence Regulations (RIDDOR)

The Reporting of Injuries Diseases and Dangerous Occurrence Regulations are commonly known as the RIDDOR Regulations and all organisations have a duty to comply with them within their business. These regulations came into force on 1st April 1996 and help the enforcing authorities identify where and how risks arise and provide necessary information to enable them to undertake investigations when serious accidents occur.

Under the regulations, certain accidents and incidents that arise out of or in connection with your work activities are required to be reported to the Health and Safety Executive or the Local Authority. The regulations apply to all organisations that are based in Great Britain, however, Northern Ireland have their own separate procedures.

Under the RIDDOR Regulations there are different classes of accidents that are required to be reported to the HSE for example, if there is a fatality that has been caused by a work activity, then it is required to be reported to the enforcing authority immediately. This will often be done by the police when they arrive on the scene, however it is still the responsibility of the employer or the person in control of the premises to ensure that this action has been completed. Under these circumstances it will be imperative to telephone the enforcing authority so that they can visit the scene as early as possible to undertake their investigations.

On occasions, an injury at work may cause a member of staff to be off work for more than seven consecutive days, or prevent them from completing their normal work duties for more than seven consecutive days. If this situation arises then you must notify the enforcing authority of the incident. When calculating the seven consecutive days, the day of the accident is not counted, however, the period after is and includes weekends, holidays and any days the employee is not contracted to work, e.g. due to shift work etc. For example, if an employee normally works Monday to Friday and is injured on Wednesday and does not return back to work due to the injury until a week the following Friday, then the incident will be required to be reported. This is because he/she will have been off work for more than seven consecutive days i.e. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.

Hopefully, the need to report accidents or incidents under these regulations will seldom occur, however, if you have an accident within your organisation, Citation's team of advisers are available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to provide as much support as is necessary. For less serious accidents that lead to an employee being off work for three days, advice can be provided by our team of professional advisers on the helpline, however for more serious accidents your dedicated health and safety consultant will be at the accident scene within a matter of hours.

We currently provide fixed cost compliance solutions for over 7,500 clients across the UK.

Operating throughout the UK, Citation is the UK’s leading provider of Health & Safety and Employment Law compliance solutions.

Citation is proud of its contribution towards the creation of a safe and fair business environment, whilst at the same time relieving the burden of regulatory compliance from its clients.

If you would like to arrange for one of our local Business Development Managers to explain how our services can safeguard your business, please click on the "Call Me Back" button to arrange an appointment.