Reportable incidents

Deaths and injuries

If someone has died or has been injured because of a work-related accident this may have to be reported.

Work-related accidents

The accident that caused the death or injury must be connected to the work activity, Do I need to report...? provides further evidence.

Types of reportable injury

• Deaths
• Major injuries
• Over-seven-day injuries

People not at work

• Where a member of the public or person who is not at work has died, or
• Injuries to members of the public or people not at work where they are taken from the scene of an accident to hospital for treatment.

Reportable major injuries are:

• fracture, other than to fingers, thumbs and toes;
• amputation;
• dislocation of the shoulder, hip, knee or spine;
• loss of sight (temporary or permanent);
• chemical or hot metal burn to the eye or any penetrating injury to the eye;
• injury resulting from an electric shock or electrical burn leading to unconsciousness, or requiring resuscitation or admittance to hospital for more than 24 hours;
• any other injury leading to hypothermia, heat-induced illness or unconsciousness, or requiring resuscitation, or requiring admittance to hospital for more than 24 hours;
• unconsciousness caused by asphyxia or exposure to a harmful substance or biological agent;
• acute illness requiring medical treatment, or loss of consciousness arising from absorption of any substance by inhalation, ingestion or through the skin;
• acute illness requiring medical treatment where there is reason to believe that this resulted from exposure to a biological agent or its toxins or infected material.

Over-seven-day injuries

As of 6 April 2012, the over-three-day reporting requirement for people injured at work changed to more than seven days.

Now you only have to report injuries that lead to an employee or self-employed person being away from work, or unable to perform their normal work duties, 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.

Over-three-day injuries

You must still keep a record of the accident if the worker has been incapacitated for more than three consecutive days. If you are an employer, who must keep an accident book under the Social Security (Claims and Payments) Regulations 1979, that record will be enough.

Occupational diseases

Employers and the self-employed must report listed occupational diseases when they receive a written diagnosis from a doctor that they or their employee is suffering from these conditions and the sufferer has been doing the work activities listed.

Dangerous occurrences

Dangerous occurrences are certain listed near-miss events. Not every near-miss event must be reported. Here is a list of those that are reportable:

• collapse, overturning or failure of load-bearing parts of lifts and lifting equipment;
• explosion, collapse or bursting of any closed vessel or associated pipe work;
• failure of any freight container in any of its load-bearing parts;
• plant or equipment coming into contact with overhead power lines;
• electrical short circuit or overload causing fire or explosion;
• any unintentional explosion, misfire, failure of demolition to cause the intended collapse, projection of material beyond a site boundary, injury caused by an explosion;
• accidental release of a biological agent likely to cause severe human illness;
• failure of industrial radiography or irradiation equipment to de-energise or return to its safe position after the intended exposure period;
• malfunction of breathing apparatus while in use or during testing immediately before use;
• failure or endangering of diving equipment, the trapping of a diver, an explosion near a diver, or an uncontrolled ascent;
• collapse or partial collapse of a scaffold over five metres high, or erected near water where there could be a risk of drowning after a fall;
• unintended collision of a train with any vehicle;
• dangerous occurrence at a well (other than a water well);
• dangerous occurrence at a pipeline;
• failure of any load-bearing fairground equipment, or derailment or unintended collision of cars or trains;
• a road tanker carrying a dangerous substance overturns, suffers serious damage, catches fire or the substance is released;
• a dangerous substance being conveyed by road is involved in a fire or released.

The following dangerous occurrences are reportable except in relation to offshore workplaces:

• unintended collapse of:
  • any building or structure under construction, alteration or demolition where over five tonnes of material falls;
  • a wall or floor in a place of work;
  • any false work;
• explosion or fire causing suspension of normal work for over 24 hours;
• sudden, uncontrolled release in a building of:
  • 100 kg or more of flammable liquid;
  • 10 kg of flammable liquid above its boiling point;
  • 10 kg or more of flammable gas; or
  • of 500 kg of these substances if the release is in the open air;
• accidental release of any substance which may damage health.

Additional categories of dangerous occurrences apply to mines, quarries, relevant transport systems (railways etc ) and offshore workplaces. Detailed information is provided in the relevant schedules to the regulations and the Guide to RIDDOR.

Gas incidents

If you are a distributor, filler, importer or supplier of flammable gas and you learn, either directly or indirectly, that someone has died or suffered a 'major injury' in connection with the gas you distributed, filled, imported or supplied, then this must be reported online using form (F2508G1) .

If you are a gas engineer registered with the Gas Safe Register, you must provide details of any gas appliances or fittings that you consider to be dangerous, to such an extent that people could die or suffer a 'major injury', because the design, construction, installation, modification or servicing could result in:

• an accidental leakage of gas;
• inadequate combustion of gas or;
• inadequate removal of products of the combustion of gas.

Complete the online form (F2508G2).