Proposed Changes to Accident Reporting

Following Lord Young's review of Health and Safety, the UK Government is proposing changes to the way in which accidents are formally recorded under RIDDOR (Recording of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations).

Proposed Changes

At present the enforcing authorities must be informed about any work-related accident that results in someone being off work for more than three days. If the proposed changes are adopted, the period of three days will be extended to seven days.

This change would only affect reporting of accidents to the enforcing authorities. The need to record all accidents in the locally held accident book would remain the same.

The perceived benefits of implementing these proposals include:

The administrative burden on employers would be less since they would have to submit substantially less reports than at present.
The reporting period would be in line with the requirement for employees to obtain a fit note from their doctors following absence from work. Conceivably bringing these two time periods in line might be considered less confusing.
Theoretically, statistical information derived from RIDDOR reports should be more accurate and consistent. At present, statistics tend to suffer from significant under-reporting of accidents. Although it isn't possible to be precise, best estimates suggest that compliance with the current arrangements is only around 50%.

Reasons for Under-Reporting

Of course, apart from the administrative burden, there are all kinds of possible reasons for under-reporting. In a recent case it seems that a perceived fear of repercussions was enough to discourage employees and contractors from reporting a substantial number of minor injuries over a number of years.

As a result, the organisation's safety record appeared to be better than it was in reality. This went unnoticed because they had been investing in a range of measures to increase safety and were therefore expecting to see an improving situation.

This case demonstrates the importance of carefully examining all safety improvement initiatives to ensure they are not creating unintended side effects.

If we are to see genuine improvements in occupational health and safety, we need accurate statistics that we can rely on and it is hoped that the proposed changes to RIDDOR will help in this.

If you have any views on the proposals, the consultation is still open until May 2011 and you can contribute by going to the HSE Website

To discuss your health and safety or environment requirements, without any obligation on your part, please gives us a call on 01744 766000 or complete the Enquiry Form on our website.

In addition to our regular newsletters, you can also keep up with the latest information from EDP by visiting our blog at http://edp-uk.blogspot.com/