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This page sets
out what work-related incidents should be reported
to the Health and Safety Executive or Local Authority,
who should do it and how quickly
The Reporting of Injuries, Dangerous Occurrences and
Diseases Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR) requires employers
and others to notify either the Health and Safety
Executive or Local Authority by the 'quickest practicable
means' of certain kinds of incident. In
general terms the incident should be reported to:
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the
Health and Safety Executive - when the incident
arose as a result of the activities of a factory,
a building site, a mine, a farm, a fairground,
a quarry, a railway, a chemical plant, an offshore
and nuclear installation a school or a hospital. |
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the
Local Authority - when the incident arose
as a result of service sector activities - including
warehouses, residential homes, shops, offices
etc |
If
you want to read about how the HSE decided whether
or not to investigate a reported incident,
click here. To see how many reported incidents
are actually investigated, click
here
Who
needs to report the incident?
The regulations say that the "responsible
person" should report. Who is that?
If the person who has died or suffered an injury or
disease is an employee, it is the employer.
If
the person who died was not an employee (i.e. a self-employed
person, member of the public, or a person working
for a contractor) the individual or organisation who
has "control of the premises" where the
incident took place is the responsible person.
In
relation to incidents that take place at certain kinds
of locations - mines, quarries, closed tips, off shore
installation, pipelines, wells, road tankers - the
regulations are more specific who should report. To
read about this, click here
How
quickly do incidents need to be reported?
In relation to deaths, injuries and dangerous occurrences,
section 3(1) states that the responsible person should:
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forthwith
notify the relevant enforcing authority thereof
by the quickest practicable means; and |
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within
10 days send a report thereof to the relevant
enforcing authority on a form approved for the
purposes of this sub-paragraph, unless within
that period he makes a report thereof to the Executive
by some other means so approved. |
Two
kinds of report are therefore required. First, one
done, 'by the quickest practicable means' and, secondly,
unless the person has already done so, a 'paper' report
'within ten days'. In relation to how reportable diseases
should be reported, see the relevant section below
on disease.
What
is an accident arising out of work?
Only deaths and injuries resulting from "accidents"
which "arise out of or in connection with work"
need be reported. To read about what these terms mean,
click here.
Armed
forces
None of the obligations to report apply to deaths
or injuries suffered by "a member of the armed
forces of the Crown or of a visiting force who was
on duty at the relevant time" (section 10
Offence
It is an offence under Section 33 of the Health and
Safety at Work Act to breach these regulations. However,
section 11 of the regulations do provide a defence.
This states that:
"It
shall be a defence in proceedings against any person
for an offence under these Regulations for that
person to prove that he was not aware of the event
requiring him to notify or send a report to the
relevant enforcing authority and that he had taken
all reasonable steps to have all such events brought
to his notice."
To understand what deaths, injuries etc need to be reported
click on the relevant area below
You can see the
full regulations, by clicking
here
You can report an incident
by accessing the HSE's incident Centre website. Click
here to access this.
Who
should report an incident.
In relation to incidents that occur at certain kinds
of premises, Section 2 of the regulations, define
more specifically who should report the incident.
These are set out below
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a
mine, the manager of that mine; |
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a
quarry, the owner of that quarry; |
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a
closed tip, the owner of the mine or quarry with
which that tip is associated; |
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an
offshore installation (otherwise than in the case
of a disease reportable under regulation 5), the
duty holder for the purposes of the Offshore Installations
and Pipeline Works (Management and Administration)
Regulations 1995[14] provided that for the purposes
of this provision regulation 3(2)(c) of those
Regulations shall be deemed not to apply; |
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a
dangerous occurrence at a pipeline (being an incident
to which paragraph 14(a)—(f) of Part I of
Schedule 2 applies), the owner of that pipeline; |
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a
dangerous occurrence at a well, the person appointed
by a concession owner to execute any function
of organising or supervising any operation to
be carried out by the well or, where no such person
has been appointed, the concession owner (and
for this purpose "concession owner"
means the person who at any time has the right
to exploit or explore mineral resources in any
area, or to store gas in any area and to recover
gas so stored if, at any time, the well is, or
is to be, used in the exercise of that right); |
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a
diving operation (otherwise than in the case of
a disease reportable under regulation 5), the
diving contractor; |
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a
vehicle to which paragraph 16 or 17 of Part I
of Schedule 2 applies, the operator of the vehicle; |
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