RIDDOR, the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013, sits at the heart of workplace health and safety law in the UK. For employers, managers, and self-employed workers, understanding which incidents trigger a legal reporting obligation is not optional. Getting it wrong can mean non-compliance with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), and the consequences range from enforcement action to prosecution. This guide cuts through the confusion and sets out precisely what must be reported, when, and why it matters.
Whether you manage a construction site, an office, a retail premises, or any other workplace, RIDDOR applies to your business. The regulations cover a broad range of events, from fatal accidents to certain near-misses where no one was hurt at all. Knowing your obligations is the first step to meeting them.
RIDDOR stands for the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations, a piece of legislation that places a legal duty on employers, the self-employed, and those in control of work premises to report specified workplace incidents to the HSE. The regulations came into their current form in 2013, consolidating and simplifying earlier versions to make compliance more straightforward for businesses of all sizes.
The fundamental purpose of RIDDOR is to allow the HSE and other enforcing authorities to identify where and how risks arise in the workplace, and to use that information to prevent further harm. Reports submitted under RIDDOR contribute directly to national workplace safety statistics and inform enforcement priorities. From a broader perspective, the regulations exist to protect workers and members of the public from preventable harm, which makes compliance both a legal requirement and an ethical one.
It is worth being clear from the outset: not every accident at work is RIDDOR reportable. The regulations apply only where specific criteria are met. Two tests must both be satisfied. First, the accident itself must be work-related. Second, the resulting injury, disease, or occurrence must fall within one of the categories defined in the regulations. If both conditions are met, a report is required, typically submitted online via the HSE’s RIDDOR reporting portal, usually within a defined timeframe. In some circumstances, telephone reporting is permitted, particularly for fatal and specified major injuries.
Failing to report when required is a criminal offence. Businesses found to be non-compliant face improvement notices, prohibition notices, and in serious cases, prosecution under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. For any business operating in the UK, understanding the scope of these regulations is therefore a matter of legal priority.
RIDDOR Reportable Injuries
Before examining which injuries are reportable, it is essential to understand what qualifies as a reportable accident in the first place. Under RIDDOR, an accident is defined as a separate, identifiable, unintended incident that causes physical injury. This definition is more precise than common usage of the word might suggest, and it carries significant implications for what does and does not need to be reported.
The accident must be directly connected to work. If an employee is injured at home over the weekend, even if the injury keeps them off work for several weeks, there is no RIDDOR obligation because the incident did not arise out of or in connection with their work activities. By contrast, if the same employee trips on a damaged floor surface at their workplace and is absent for more than seven consecutive days, that incident almost certainly is reportable.
A key distinction arises with health conditions that develop gradually, or with medical events that occur at work but are not caused by it. If an employee suffers a heart attack at their workstation, that event is not reportable under RIDDOR unless there is a specific, identifiable work-related accident that caused or directly contributed to the cardiac event. Similarly, conditions that worsen progressively over time, rather than arising from a single incident, may fall under the reportable diseases provisions of the regulations rather than the injury categories. Understanding where this line sits is important for accurate compliance.
There is also no de minimis exemption for minor accidents. What matters is not the perceived severity at the time of the incident but whether the resulting injury meets one of the specified thresholds under the regulations. A relatively minor-looking accident that results in a worker being unfit for their normal duties for more than seven consecutive days is a reportable event, regardless of how it appeared in the immediate aftermath.
Is the accident RIDDOR reportable?
Firstly, the injury must be the result of a RIDDOR reportable accident. This means that the accident causing the injury must be work-related.
Accidents outside of work are not reportable. For example, if a worker was injured at home and the injury resulted in over 7 days off work, it wouldn’t be RIDDOR reportable because it didn’t happen at work.
Under RIDDOR, an accident is defined as a separate, identifiable, unintended incident, which causes physical injury. An injury or illness resulting in time off work is only reportable if there is an identifiable event that caused the injury – for example lifting a heavy object, or an object striking someone.
Injuries or illnesses at work that are not the result of a workplace accident would also not be reportable under RIDDOR.
For example, if someone has a heart attack at work, it wouldn’t be RIDDOR reportable – even if they die – if it’s not the result of an accident at work.
Is the injury RIDDOR reportable?
Once you have established a work-related accident has resulted in an injury, there are then several types of reportable injuries under RIDDOR.
- Deaths
- Major injuries
- 7-day injuries
- Injuries to the public
Where injuries are reportable, the HSE must be notified by the appropriate means, usually via the online form. In some cases, the report may be made via telephone. We cover how to report under RIDDOR in a separate post, but first, let’s take a more detailed look at what injuries are reportable.
Deaths
This one is fairly straightforward. Fatalities at work are almost always going to be RIDDOR reportable – providing they are the result of a workplace accident.
6.—(1) Where any person dies as a result of a work-related accident, the responsible person must follow the reporting procedure.The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 Work-related fatalities
All deaths of workers and non-workers arising from a work-related accident are reportable under RIDDOR. This also includes deaths that occur within one year following an accident at work, where this is the cause of death.
For example, if someone hit their head at work, and is sent to the hospital, this might be reported as a major injury. If they die months later from their injury, then this would need to be reported again as a work-related fatality under RIDDOR.
Major injuries
Major injuries at work are reportable under RIDDOR. But how do you know exactly what is classed as a major injury?
RIDDOR includes a list of specified injuries that need to be reported as major injuries. These types of injuries include fractures, amputations, serious burns and loss of consciousness.
- Bone fractures (other than to fingers, thumbs and toes)
- Amputation of arm, hand, finger, thumb, leg, foot or toe
- Any injury causing permanent blinding or reduction in sight to one or both eyes
- Any crush injury to the head or torso causing damage to the brain or internal organs
- Any burn injury covering more than 10% of the body or causing damage to the eyes, respiratory system or vital organs
- Any scalping requiring hospital treatment
- Loss of consciousness caused by head injury or asphyxia
- Any injury from work in an enclosed space leading to hypothermia or heat-induced illness or requiring resuscitation or admittance to hospital for more than 24 hours
Injuries lasting more than 7 days
RIDDOR requires 7-day injuries to be reported. This means that you need to report injuries resulting in a person being off work (or unable to perform their normal work duties) for more than 7 consecutive days.
(2) Where any person at work is incapacitated for routine work for more than seven consecutive days (excluding the day of the accident) because of an injury resulting from an accident arising out of or in connection with that work, the responsible person must send a report to the relevant enforcing authority in an approved manner as soon as practicable and in any event within 15 days of the accident.The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 Non-fatal injuries to workers
You get a bit of extra time to report these types of injuries, as you are unlikely to know if someone will be off for seven days until seven days after the accident! However, you should report as soon as possible, for example, if they get a doctor’s note earlier or it’s fairly obvious they will be off work for a while.
Injuries to members of the public
If a member of the public is injured as a result of your work activities and gets taken to the hospital for treatment, this needs to be reported under RIDDOR if:
- They are injured in a work-related accident.
- They are taken to the hospital for treatment.
It doesn’t need to be a significant injury, when a public member is injured, reporting requirements apply to any injury, but only where they are taken to hospital for treatment.
This only applies when a person is injured and taken to the hospital to treat that injury. There is no need to report incidents where people are taken to the hospital purely as a precaution when no injury is apparent.
Now that we have discovered the types of injuries that need to be reported, RIDDOR covers more than just injury reporting. We have only covered RI (reporting of injuries) so far. Let’s look at what else needs to be reported under RIDDOR.
RIDDOR Reportable Diseases
Under RIDDOR, employers and self-employed people must report diagnoses of certain occupational diseases where these are likely to have been caused or made worse by their work.
Reportable diseases under RIDDOR are listed in regulations 8 and 9. Types of occupational diseases include occupational dermatitis, hand-arm vibration syndrome, and occupational cancer.
- Carpal Tunnel Syndrome from using percussive or vibrating tools
- Cramp in hand or forearm from prolonged periods of repetitive movement of fingers, hands or arms
- Occupational dermatitis from exposure to known skin sensitisers or irritants
- Hand-arm vibration Syndrome from regular use of percussive or vibrating tools or materials
- Occupational asthma from exposure to respiratory sensitisers
- Tendonitis or tenosynovitis in the hand or forearm from frequent repetitive movements
- Diagnosis of cancer attributed to occupational exposure
- Any disease attributed to occupational exposure to a biological agent
RIDDOR Reportable Dangerous Occurrences
So far, we’ve needed to report people getting hurt, either through injury or harm to their health.
But you might also need to report certain events where no one suffered any harm. We call these dangerous occurrences.
Several types of dangerous occurrences require reporting in circumstances where the incident can cause injury or death, such as the collapse of lifting equipment or scaffolding, unintentional explosions, accidental release of hazardous substances or gas, accidental contact with overhead power lines etc.
Like a near-miss, no one got hurt – but they could have been.
Dangerous occurrences include:
- Collapse, overturning or failure of any load-creating part of lifting equipment
- Failure of any closed vessel or associated pipework forming part of pressure systems
- Contact or electrical discharge between overhead electric lines and plant or equipment
- Electrical incidents causing an explosion or fire resulting in stoppage of the plant for more than 24 hours or significant risk of death
- Unintentional explosion or ignition of explosives, including misfires and failure of shots to cause a demolition
- Any accident or incident that could have resulted in the escape of high-risk biological agents
- The malfunction of radiation generators and radiography equipment
- The malfunction of breathing apparatus with a significant risk of personal injury
- The failure, damage or endangering of life or significant risk of personal injury during diving operations
- The complete or partial collapse of scaffolding
- Train collisions which could have caused death or specified injury to any person
- A blow-out, unanticipated detection of hydrogen sulphide, mechanical failure or additional precautionary measures about wells
- Any damage to, uncontrolled release, failure of isolation or failure of equipment in pipelines or pipeline works
Some extra dangerous occurrences must be reported when working in a mine, quarry, railway, transport systems, and offshore workplaces. Make sure you look at schedule 2 of the RIDDOR regulations if this applies to you.
For more information on RIDDOR, take our Health and Safety Course. After completing the course, you will receive a certificate for your training records.
This article was written by Mathew Oldham (HSQE Consultancy Ltd). Mathew has over 20 years of experience in health and safety and an MSc (Hons) in Construction Management. Mathew is NEBOSH Health and Safety, Construction, Fire, Environment and Diploma qualified and CertIOSH.
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