Section 3 of the Reporting
of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations
1995 states that the death of any person who:
"dies as a
result of an accident arising out of or in connection
with work"
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is a discussion of when an injury is an accident
or not on the page concerning deaths. click
here |
should be reported.
This includes not only
employees and the self-employed but also 'members
of the public' who have died as a result of work activities.
For example, the death of a person walking on a pavement
who is killed through collapsing scaffold or the death
of a person from activities in a private care home
are included.
Significance of
a death being 'reportable'
There are a number of important implications if a
death is considered reportable.
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It
will mean that there will definitely be a coroner's
inquest in front of a jury. To read more about
this click
here.
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It
will mean that the HSE or Local Authority will
almost certainly investigate it. To read about
this click here.
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It
increases the chances of the police undertaking
a manslaughter investigation. To read more about
this, click here
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Injury
that subsequently results in a death
There may be circumstances where a person suffers
an injury and subsequently dies - though the death
may take place quite sometime after the original incident.
Section 4 of the regulations states that if the person
is an employee, and dies within one year and a day
of the original incident, the employer has the responsibility
of reporting the death to the HSE or Local Authority
even if the original incident has already been reported.
'Work-related' Road
deaths
Most deaths resulting from an "accident arising
out of or in connection with the movement of a vehicle
on a road" are not reportable. There are however
a number of exceptions and to read about these click
here.
Deaths resulting
from medical treatment
Deaths resulting from an operation, examination
or medical treatment are not reported to the authorities.
The regulations state that
"an accident
causing death or injury to a person arising out
of the conduct of any operation on, or any examination
or other medical treatment of, that person which
is administered by, or conducted under the supervision
of, a registered medical practitioner or a registered
dentist"
need not be reported.
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