HSC press release C011:05 - 31 March 2005
The Health and Safety Commission (HSC) has today published an online discussion document as part of its review of the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Ocurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR).
A key element is to ensure that any future reporting requirements are easy to understand and that businesses can achieve compliance without undue administrative costs. It is also essential that any reporting system is unbureaucratic and does not burden business unnecessarily.
This discussion document is an opportunity to consider the current reporting system and its direction in a fundamental way, looking at the whole reporting system and its principles.
Although the discussion document contains no formal proposals for changes to the Regulations, it discusses RIDDOR's key objectives and current issues and identifies proposals where changes might be made to benefit both Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and local authorities as well as duty holders.
Lauching the discussion document, Bill Callaghan, Chair of HSC said:
" RIDDOR is one of the most important sources of information for the enforcing authorities and guides some, but not all, regulatory activity. However, the case has yet to be made as to whether RIDDOR is really the best means of gathering information on occupational health and for the purposes of health and safety statistics, or whether we could rely on other mechanisms to collect this information. We need RIDDOR and the reporting system to be key drivers for improving behaviour and standards of health and safety management to help us achieve our vision of a world in which sensible health and safety is a cornerstone of a civilised society. "
The Review is above all a unique opportunity to go back to first principles to develop a reporting system to take us to 2010 and beyond."
The full text of the discussion document can be viewed or downloaded from HSE's website.
All enquiries from journalists should be directed to the HSE Press Office
