HSE unveils change

Posted: Wednesday 16th, October 2013

HSE unveils changes to reporting requirements

Date: 1 October 2013

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has formally implemented changes to
simplify the mandatory reporting of workplace injuries for businesses.

Changes to the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences
Regulations (RIDDOR) 1995 clarify and simplify the reporting requirements, while
ensuring that the data collected gives an accurate and useful picture of workplace
incidents.

The change affects all employers - including the self-employed. New web-based
information and guidance is now available on the HSE website at:
http://www.hse.gov.uk/riddor/index.htm
The main changes are in the following areas:

The classification of 'major injuries' to workers replaced with a shorter list of
'specified injuries'
The existing schedule detailing 47 types of industrial disease replaced with eight
categories of reportable work-related illness
Fewer types of 'dangerous occurrence' require reporting
There are no significant changes to the reporting requirements for:

Fatal accidents
Accidents to non-workers (members of the public)
Accidents resulting in a worker being unable to perform their normal range of
duties for more than seven days
How an incident at work is reported and the criteria that determine whether an
incident should be investigated remain the same.

Commenting on the impact of the changes, Dave Charnock, HSE policy lead for
the revisions to RIDDOR, explained: "Reporting under RIDDOR is a legal
requirement for companies. RIDDOR reports, along with all other complaints and
information received by HSE, will continue to be examined in conjunction with
our Incident Selection Criteria to determine the need for investigations - this is
not something new.

"It will not alter the current ways to report an incident at work. The principles of
what must be recorded remain largely unchanged - everything that is reportable
must also be recorded (other than gas events), together with over-3-day lost time
accidents.

"The aim is to simplify and clarify reporting requirements, whilst ensuring that a
useful supply of information is retained, to provide sufficient data for HSE and
others to act in a risk-based manner, and to enable European and international
obligations to be met. The proposed changes will facilitate improved reporting of
such information, whilst not requiring businesses to provide information that is
either not used or could be better obtained from other sources."

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