Changes To Incident Reporting Rules

On 6th April 2012 the rules regarding incident reporting under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) changed.

Previously the law required any absence from work of over three days due to an occupational accident or injury to be reported. The reporting requirement has now changed so that employers only have to report injuries that lead to a worker being incapacitated for more than seven consecutive days as the result of an occupational accident or injury (not counting the day of the accident but including weekends and rest days). The report must be made within 15 days of the accident.

In this context incapacitation means that the worker is absent, or is unable to do work that they would reasonably be expected to do as part of their normal work.

Employers must still keep a record of the incident if the worker has been incapacitated for more than three consecutive days. If an employer is already maintaining an Accident Book under the Social Security (Claims and Payments) Regulations 1979, that record can be treated as a record for the purposes of RIDDOR.

Aegis can help employers and others in control of work premises to comply with RIDDOR and to understand recent changes to reporting.

Further information is available in the HSE leaflet: http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg453.pdf