RIDDOR Incident Reporting and Records Procedure

This procedure applies conditionally to a maintained or academy primary or secondary school in England when it is acting as an employer or as another person in charge of work premises. Its application to a particular incident depends on the facts of the incident, the work-relatedness of the event, the employment relationship and, where relevant, control of the premises.

1. Responsibilities

The school should identify the person responsible for coordinating RIDDOR decisions and notifications: [riddor coordinator role]. The authorised reporter or reporting arrangement is [authorised reporter or arrangement].

Responsibility must reflect whether the school is the employer, another person in charge of the work premises, or the host business in the circumstances of the incident. The responsible person must be identified for each incident rather than assumed solely from the worker's location.

2. Incidents requiring consideration

Consider whether the incident is a work-related accident involving a death, a certain serious or specified injury, a diagnosed specified industrial disease, or a dangerous occurrence. A dangerous occurrence is an incident with the potential to cause harm.

Also consider whether a work-related accident has incapacitated a worker for more than seven days. Where the RIDDOR reporting requirement applies, this category must be reported.

3. Initial assessment

When an incident is notified, record the incident date, the people involved, the work activity or premises connection, the circumstances known at the time, and the relevant employment or hosting arrangements.

Assess whether the incident is work-related and whether it falls within a RIDDOR category. Record the reasoning, the person who made the decision, the date of the decision, and whether the decision is reportable, not reportable, or requires further information.

Where the available information does not establish whether RIDDOR applies, record the information still required and refer the decision to [riddor escalation role]. Do not treat uncertainty as confirmation that a report is required or that it is not required.

4. Agency workers and hosted workers

Where an agency worker or other hosted worker is involved, review the employment status, agency supply arrangements and control of the premises. In many cases the employment agency is the legal employer and has the employer's reporting obligations. In other cases, including where a worker is self-employed, responsibility may rest with the host business as the person in control of the premises.

For each relevant incident, record the basis on which reporting responsibility has been assigned between the school, the agency and the worker. The allocation should reflect the particular facts of the employment relationship and the incident, and should be communicated to the relevant parties.

The school's written allocation of responsibility for agency and hosted workers is held at [agency reporting responsibility location].

5. Reporting a reportable incident

Where the assessment concludes that RIDDOR reporting applies, the responsible reporter must prepare and submit the relevant RIDDOR notification using the applicable HSE online reporting form. Record the submission date, reporter, form or notification reference, incident classification and the incident record to which the notification relates.

The reporting process must identify who should report and who should not report under RIDDOR. If a submitted notification later needs amendment, retain the amendment information with the original incident record.

6. Recording decisions and incidents

Maintain an incident record for relevant work-related deaths, specified injuries, diagnosed specified industrial diseases and dangerous occurrences. The record should include the incident details, the RIDDOR classification considered, the reportability decision, the responsible reporting person or organisation, and the report reference where a report was required.

Record accidents resulting in the incapacitation of a worker for more than seven days where the RIDDOR reporting requirement applies. Recording requirements also include accidents resulting in the incapacitation of a worker for more than three days.

The school's incident and RIDDOR records are maintained in [incident record system] and access is controlled by [records owner role].

7. Review of the procedure

The school should review this procedure at [procedure review frequency] and when its employment, premises-control or agency-worker arrangements change. The review should confirm that responsible reporting roles, reportability decision arrangements, online reporting access and incident-record arrangements remain suitable for the school's circumstances.