Out-Law News 2 min. read
02 Oct 2013, 3:45 pm
HSE has published updated guidance reflecting the changes to the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR), which took effect this week. The RIDDOR regime dates back to 1995 and had been criticised for its lack of clarity as part of Professor Ragnar Löfstedt's 2011 review of health and safety law.
The updated regulations replace the classification of 'major injuries' that require reporting with a shorter list of 'specified injuries', and reduce the number of 'dangerous occurrences' that require reporting. The previous schedule to the regulations, which set out 47 types of reportable industrial disease, has been replaced with eight categories of reportable work-related illness.
HSE's Dave Charnock, who took the lead on revisions to the regulations, said that the changes would not alter companies' legal requirements or the means to report an incident at work.
"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," he said.
"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," he said.
The RIDDOR regime requires employers and other people who are in control of work premises, including self-employed people, to report and keep records of work-related deaths, certain serious injuries, diagnosed cases of certain industrial diseases and certain 'dangerous occurrences', or near-miss incidents. The purpose of the regime is to allow the enforcing authorities to identify where and how risks arise, and whether they need to be investigated.
HSE consulted on changes to the regime last year, following recommendations made by Professor Ragnar Löfstedt of King's College, London in his independent review of health and safety laws. Changes to the Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations have also been introduced this week which give effect to Löfstedt's recommendations; these changes remove the requirement for HSE to approve workplace first aid training and qualifications.
Both sets of changes will affect all employers including the self-employed, but neither is intended to reduce employers' duties and responsibilities in the event of an incident, according to HSE. In particular, the changes to the RIDDOR regime will not affect how an incident at work is reported and the criteria that determine whether an incident should be investigated. There are no changes to the reporting requirements for fatal accidents, accidents to members of the public and accidents that result in a worker being unable to perform their "normal range of duties" for more than seven days.
Health and safety law expert Kevin Bridges of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, welcomed the changes to the "overly complex" RIDDOR regime. However, he said that it was likely that some uncertainty surrounding the requirements would continue.
"The rationale behind having a set of regulations requiring the reporting of certain injuries at work and significant near-misses is unquestionable as a matter of policy - it provides statistics that act as a benchmark against which to measure trends and safety performance and helps the enforcing authorities determine where to target enforcement action," he said. "However, RIDDOR 1995 was overly complex and gave rise to under-reporting of some incidents and over-reporting of others. The uncertainty surrounding the reporting of certain dangerous occurrences was particularly problematic."
"It is hoped the 2013 Regulations deliver what has been promised - clarity and simplification of the process – but only time will tell; and I suspect there will remain numerous circumstances which cause those tasked with the responsibility for deciding whether or not to report with a dilemma," he said.
