Accident reporting
All accidents, however minor the injury, should be recorded in
the accident book in your workplace. Accident books can be ordered
from HSE
books (external link) - the newest version of the accident
book complies with the requirements of the Data Protection Act.
Reporting serious accidents or incidents
Certain injuries, diseases and 'dangerous occurrences' - events
which do not cause injury but are potentially very serious - must
be reported to the enforcing authority under The Reporting of
Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995
(RIDDOR).
Details of what is included in the various categories can be
found on the Riddor
website (external link) but to summarise, the following
must be reported:
- Deaths (of employees or members of the public)
- Major injuries (such as fractures and amputations) to
employees
- Members of the public taken to hospital from your
premises.
- Injuries which prevent an employee from carrying out their
normal work for more than 3 days.
- Serious diseases or medical conditions caused by work, such as
occupational asthma.
- Dangerous occurrences such as electrical short circuits causing
fire or explosion.
How to report
All incidents can be reported to a central point - the Incident
Contact Centre through the Riddor website (external
link). Fatalities and major incidents can alternatively be
reported by phone on 0845 300 9923.
All reports are passed to the Local Authority or the Health
and Safety Executive as appropriate.
Important points to note
To be reportable under Riddor, the accident needs to be
connected with a work activity. This could mean that the work
itself led to the injury, or there was a defect or hazard within
the premises. If the injury or incident had nothing to do
with the work or the premises (such as a customer walking into a
shop and having a heart attack) there is no need to report
it. If in any doubt, it is always better to report than
not!
Deaths, major injuries, public taken to hospital and dangerous
occurrences must be reported immediately by telephone or on
the internet.
Other categories must be reported within 10 days.
If you have any queries about Riddor reporting, the officers of
the Environmental Health team will be pleased to help
you.