RIDDOR Explained: the Full Form, the Duty, the Examples

The full form: what RIDDOR stands for

RIDDOR is the R eporting of I njuries, D iseases and D angerous O ccurrences R egulations 2013. The full form is what the interview asks and the auditor checks — the reporting of the injuries, the diseases, and the dangerous occurrences, to the Health and Safety Executive. The regulations came into force in October 2013, and they replaced the older reporting regime with the three-line system that is the reportable today.

The duty: who must report, and to whom

The RIDDOR duty sits on the employer and the self-employed — the person in control of the workplace. The employer reports the injury to the employee, the disease to the worker, and the dangerous occurrence at the workplace. The self-employed reports the injury to the self and the dangerous occurrence at the workplace.

The report goes to the HSE (the Health and Safety Executive) — the online report on the HSE website, or the phone report. The duty is not optional: the failure to report is a prosecution, and the fine is the unlimited one. The reportable is the duty, and the duty is the law.

The three lines: the injury, the disease, the occurrence

The RIDDOR report is the three lines. The injury line: the death, the specified injury, the over-7-day injury, and the injury to a member of the public taken directly to hospital. The disease line: the diagnosed notifiable disease — the carpal tunnel syndrome, the occupational asthma, the skin disease (the dermatitis), the noise-induced hearing loss, and the specified cancer.

The occurrence line: the dangerous occurrence — the collapse of the scaffold, the explosion, the dangerous escape of gas, the contact with an overhead power line. The three lines are the reportable, and the reportable is the RIDDOR.

The deadline: the 15 days, and the immediate

The RIDDOR deadline is the two. The 15 days: the over-7-day injury, the notifiable disease, and the dangerous occurrence — the 15 days run from the date of the incident. The immediate: the death, the specified injury, and the serious dangerous occurrence — reported as soon as practicable, the same day.

The fatal is reported immediately — the death, and the specified injury that is the serious (the amputation, the loss of a body part, the loss of sight, the chemical burn to the eye). The 15-day count is the clock, and the clock starts at the incident, not at the hospital.

Worked examples: the reportable, and the not

Example 1: the worker falls from the ladder, and the arm is the fracture (the other-than-the-finger). The fracture is the specified — report immediately, to the HSE. Example 2: the worker strains the back, and the off-work time is the 10 days. The 10 days is the over-7-day — report within the 15 days of the incident.

Example 3: the worker is first-aided for the cut, and returns to work the same day. The first-aid-only is not the reportable — the accident book, not the HSE. Example 4: the visitor is injured on site, and goes directly to the hospital for treatment. The member-of-the-public injury is the reportable — within the 15 days.

Is a Broken Leg or a Fractured Ankle RIDDOR Reportable?

A broken leg or a fractured ankle is not a specified injury on its own — it is reportable as an over-7-day injury when it incapacitates the worker for more than seven consecutive days. The specified fractures on the Schedule 1 list are the skull, the lower jaw, the shoulder, the arm, the wrist, the finger, the hand, the foot, the toe, the spine and the rib. So the fracture of the lower leg, the ankle and the hip are the over-7-day line: the worker is off for the week or more, and the report is due within seven days. The distinction is the one that decides the deadline, and the one the site gets wrong most often.

If the Employer Did Not Report, Does It Affect a Personal Injury Claim?

The RIDDOR reporting duty and the personal injury claim are two separate systems. The duty to report runs to the HSE, and the failure to report is an enforcement matter — the HSE can still investigate from the hospital, the GP and the other workers, and the non-reporting is evidence in the enforcement, not a shield for the claim. The claim itself runs on the negligence, not on the RIDDOR — the claim is not killed by the missed report, but the missed report is the paper trail that the claimant's solicitor finds useful. The site that reports on time is the site that does not hand the other side the first exhibit.