School RIDDOR Ownership and Reportability Procedure

1. Scope and responsibility

Use this procedure where the school is an employer or another person in charge of work premises and a work-related incident may fall within RIDDOR. The school should designate [riddor responsible person] to coordinate the assessment and reporting process, subject to confirmation against the Regulations and current HSE material.

The responsible person should ensure that relevant incidents are considered, that the basis of each reportability decision is recorded, and that any applicable report is made through the relevant RIDDOR route.

2. Initial response to an incident

When an incident is raised, obtain enough information to identify whether it was work-related, who was affected, what happened, and whether the circumstances may correspond to a RIDDOR category. Record the incident in [incident reporting record location].

The initial assessment should not assume that an incident is reportable or non-reportable solely because an injury occurred. The decision should be based on the circumstances of the incident and the applicable RIDDOR criteria.

3. Reportability assessment

Assess whether the incident involves a work-related accident causing death, a work-related accident causing a reportable serious injury, a diagnosed case of a specified industrial disease, or a dangerous occurrence covered by RIDDOR.

Also assess whether a work-related accident has incapacitated a worker for more than seven days, where the RIDDOR reporting requirement applies.

For accidents involving non-workers, including members of the public, assess the circumstances against the applicable RIDDOR requirements. Do not treat the absence of a worker as sufficient to close the assessment.

Where the assessment identifies a potentially reportable incident, [riddor responsible person] should confirm the applicable criterion and complete the relevant reporting process. Where the assessment concludes that the incident is not reportable, record the reason and the information considered.

4. Agency workers and hosted workers

Where the school uses agency workers or hosts workers supplied by an employment agency, establish who is responsible for reporting according to the employment relationship and the circumstances of the incident.

In many cases the employment agency is the legal employer and has the same legal obligations as any other employer to report accidents and ill health affecting its employees. In other cases, such as where workers are self-employed, the duty may rest with the host business as the person in control of the premises where the accident occurred.

The agency and school should clearly assign reporting responsibility for the particular arrangement and ensure that the relevant host business and workers understand who is responsible.

5. Raising a concern

If a person considers that an incident may be reportable, they should raise the concern with [riddor responsible person] and provide the incident details and any information supporting the concern.

If the assessment concludes that an incident is not reportable, the concern and the decision should be recorded. The HSE material includes information on when an incident is not reportable and how to raise a concern with HSE.

6. Recording the decision

For each relevant incident, record the incident date, the work-relatedness assessment, the person affected, the incident classification considered, the reportability decision, the reasons for that decision, the person making or approving the decision, and any RIDDOR report submitted.

Keep records for incidents falling within the applicable RIDDOR recording requirements, including accidents resulting in the incapacitation of a worker for more than three days.

7. Review of a submitted notification

Where information changes after a notification, review whether the notification needs to be amended. The HSE material gives amending a notification, including where a notified injury has ended in a fatality, as an example of a subsequent reporting action.