When Is RIDDOR Reportable for Your Site?

Know when is RIDDOR reportable, who must act and what evidence to retain. Build a faster, defensible incident workflow across every site without delay.

A contractor falls from a step ladder, attends A&E and returns to work the next morning. A warehouse colleague suffers a fracture. A near miss involving a failing lifting system stops work but injures nobody. These events need different responses, different records and, in some cases, a report to the Health and Safety Executive. Knowing when is RIDDOR reportable prevents both missed statutory notifications and unnecessary reports that create confusion without adding control.

RIDDOR stands for the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013. It is not a requirement to report every accident, hazard or first-aid treatment. It is a defined reporting regime for serious work-related events. The first task is to establish whether the event arose out of, or in connection with, work. The second is to test it against the reportable categories and deadlines.

For multi-site teams, the practical challenge is speed and evidence. The person on site needs a clear route to log the incident, protect the area, notify the right people and preserve the facts. The responsible person then needs enough reliable information to make a defensible decision.

When is RIDDOR reportable? Start with work connection

An incident is only reportable under RIDDOR if it arises out of, or in connection with, work. That link may be clear, such as an injury caused by a machine, a workplace slip or a contractor undertaking planned maintenance. It can also be less obvious.

Consider what work activity was taking place, how the work was organised, the condition of premises or equipment, and whether the event was caused by an act or omission in the way work was managed. A heart attack at work, for example, is not automatically RIDDOR reportable simply because it happened on site. There must be evidence that work contributed to the event.

This distinction matters. Recording every event internally is good management. Reporting every event externally is not the legal test. Your local incident process should capture the full facts first, then support a controlled RIDDOR assessment rather than forcing site teams to make legal judgements from memory.

Reportable injury categories

Deaths

A death resulting from a work-related accident must be reported. This includes the death of a worker, contractor, visitor or member of the public. The responsible person must notify the enforcing authority without delay and submit the formal report within 10 days.

There are narrow exceptions, including deaths arising from a work-related accident involving suicide. In any fatal incident, seek competent legal and health and safety advice immediately. Preserve the scene where appropriate, secure records and ensure communications are carefully managed.

Specified injuries to workers

Certain serious injuries to workers are reportable, regardless of the number of days lost. These include fractures other than to fingers, thumbs and toes; amputations; serious burns and scalping; crush injuries to the head or torso causing damage to the brain or internal organs; and injuries leading to loss of consciousness caused by head injury, asphyxia or exposure to a harmful substance.

Also included are injuries arising from work in an enclosed space that lead to hypothermia, heat-induced illness, require resuscitation, or require hospital admittance for more than 24 hours. The detail matters. A broad description such as “serious injury” is not enough. The injury must meet the regulatory definition.

Over-seven-day injuries

An injury to a worker becomes reportable where it prevents them from doing their normal work duties, or any work they would reasonably be expected to do, for more than seven consecutive days. The day of the accident does not count, but weekends, rest days and holidays do.

This is often missed because the reportability decision cannot always be made on the day of the incident. A person may initially expect to return quickly, then remain unfit for normal duties. Site managers should therefore create a follow-up task after every lost-time injury and check the actual duration of incapacity. The report must be made within 15 days of the incident.

An absence of three to seven days is not RIDDOR reportable, but it must still be recorded where it is work-related. Those records can reveal repeat failures in housekeeping, manual handling, contractor control or equipment condition before a more serious event occurs.

Injuries to non-workers

Where a member of the public, visitor, resident, pupil or other non-worker is injured in a work-related accident and taken directly to hospital for treatment, it may be reportable. The injury itself does not need to be on the specified-injury list.

“Taken directly” is significant. If a visitor leaves the site and later chooses to seek medical treatment, this does not automatically meet the reporting threshold. Record the facts precisely, including what treatment was provided on site, how the person left and what was known at the time.

Dangerous occurrences: reportable even without injury

RIDDOR also requires reports of prescribed dangerous occurrences. These are serious near misses with the potential to cause major harm. No injury is required.

Examples relevant to facilities and operational teams include the collapse or partial collapse of scaffolding in specified circumstances, the overturning or failure of lifting equipment, electrical short circuits or overloads causing fire or explosion, and the accidental release of flammable gas or dangerous substances. The regulations contain detailed definitions, thresholds and exclusions, so avoid relying on an informal label such as “near miss”.

A failed passenger lift, for example, is not automatically a dangerous occurrence. But a lifting operation involving equipment failure may be. The correct response is to record the event, isolate the risk, obtain competent technical input and assess it against the specific RIDDOR category. A strong near-miss process gives you the evidence to do that quickly.

Occupational diseases and gas incidents

RIDDOR covers some diagnosed occupational diseases where a doctor has made a diagnosis and the person’s work involves the relevant activity or exposure. Categories include carpal tunnel syndrome, severe cramp of the hand or forearm, occupational dermatitis, hand-arm vibration syndrome, occupational asthma and tendonitis or tenosynovitis of the hand or forearm.

The trigger is not an employee mentioning symptoms. It is a qualifying diagnosis linked to qualifying work. That is why health surveillance records, exposure assessments, training history and role information must be accessible when a case is reviewed.

There are separate reporting duties for gas suppliers, fitters and others working with gas appliances or fittings. Certain dangerous gas fittings and appliances must be reported where they could cause death, loss of consciousness or a person needing hospital treatment. For most general workplaces, the key action is to isolate the hazard, engage a Gas Safe registered engineer and retain the service and inspection evidence. If your organisation performs the relevant gas work, make sure the duty holder understands the additional reporting rules.

Who reports, and when?

The duty normally sits with the “responsible person”. For an employer, this is usually the employer. For a self-employed person, it is that person. For premises under their control, it may be the person in control of the premises.

This is particularly relevant where landlords, managing agents, tenants and contractors share a site. Contract terms may allocate investigation and notification tasks, but they do not remove statutory duties. Agree the escalation route before an incident happens: who logs the facts, who contacts emergency services, who decides reportability, who submits the report, and who communicates with the regulator.

For fatalities, specified injuries and dangerous occurrences, notify the enforcing authority without delay and complete the report within 10 days. For over-seven-day injuries, submit the report within 15 days of the incident. Occupational diseases should be reported as soon as the diagnosis is received.

The report is generally submitted online to the HSE, or to the relevant enforcing authority in certain sectors. Keep a copy of the completed report and the evidence used to reach the decision. RIDDOR reporting does not replace your internal investigation, insurer notification, employee consultation or any duty to notify other regulators.

Build a defensible incident workflow

The best RIDDOR process does not begin when someone opens the reporting form. It begins with consistent capture at the point of incident. Every record should establish the date, time, location, people involved, activity underway, immediate injuries, witnesses, photographs, equipment or asset identifiers, and actions taken to control the risk.

Learn MoreIncidents & Accident ManagementHow the event is captured against the people and place involved, so the facts sit on the record before anyone judges reportability.

Then assign a named owner to assess work connection and reportability. Give that person a timed review task for possible over-seven-day injuries. Link the incident to relevant risk assessments, training records, maintenance history, contractor details and previous inspections. This turns a decision into evidence rather than a judgement buried in an email.

CalmCompliance can bring those records into one operational trail, so a site-level incident, corrective action and supporting evidence remain visible to the teams responsible for safety and assurance. The aim is not simply to submit a RIDDOR report on time. It is to show what happened, why the decision was made and what changed afterwards.

When an event occurs, act first to keep people safe. Then let a clear, evidence-led workflow establish whether RIDDOR applies and make sure the learning reaches every site that faces the same risk.