LEGAL GUIDE · ENGLAND & WALES
If you have been seriously injured at work, your employer may have been legally required to report your accident to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). The law that governs this obligation is called RIDDOR — the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013. Understanding RIDDOR is useful if you are making an accident at work claim, because a RIDDOR report can provide valuable independent evidence that your accident occurred and that your injuries were serious.
This guide explains what RIDDOR is, what must be reported, and what it means for your compensation claim — whether your employer filed a report or failed to.
In plain English: RIDDOR requires employers to report certain workplace accidents to the HSE. A RIDDOR report is an official record made at the time of the accident — before any dispute about your claim arises. That makes it powerful evidence.
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RIDDOR stands for the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (SI 2013/1471). It replaced earlier versions of the same regulations and is enforced by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in England and Wales.
RIDDOR creates reporting duties for four main categories:
All work-related deaths must be reported to the HSE immediately.
These are serious injuries that must be reported immediately (by telephone) and confirmed in writing within 10 days. Specified injuries include:
Where a worker is incapacitated from their normal work duties for more than seven consecutive days (not counting the day of the accident), the employer must report this to the HSE within 15 days of the accident. This is a common scenario in moderate workplace injury cases — and means many more claims involve a RIDDOR report than workers realise.
Employers must report certain occupational diseases when a worker is diagnosed with a condition caused by their work. Reportable conditions include: carpal tunnel syndrome (from vibration), cramp of the hand or forearm (from repetitive work), occupational dermatitis, hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS), occupational asthma, tendonitis or tenosynovitis in the hand or forearm, and any occupational cancer.
Certain near-miss events that had the potential to cause serious injury must also be reported — including scaffold collapses, unintended explosions, accidental releases of biological agents, electrical short circuits causing fire, and the collapse of lifting equipment.
A RIDDOR report is made at the time of the accident, before any dispute about liability arises. This means it is an independent contemporaneous record, not something reconstructed later. It can help your claim in several ways:
Failing to file a required RIDDOR report is a criminal offence under the Regulations. It does not prevent you from making a compensation claim, but it can work in your favour:
Your solicitor can ask the HSE whether a RIDDOR report was ever filed for your accident and, if not, can note the failure in the Letter of Claim to the defendant’s insurer.
Common misconception: Workers sometimes believe that if no RIDDOR report was filed, they have no evidence and therefore no claim. This is wrong. Medical records, witness evidence, photographs, and your own account are all independent evidence of the accident. A missing RIDDOR report is relevant but not fatal to a claim.
Your solicitor can request this information on your behalf. Options include:
Want to know whether a RIDDOR report was filed for your accident? NJS Law will find out and advise you as part of your free initial assessment.
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RIDDOR stands for the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013. It requires employers and certain other duty holders to report specified workplace accidents, occupational diseases, and dangerous occurrences to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). It is enforced by the HSE and failure to comply is a criminal offence.
No. Only accidents resulting in specified injuries, deaths, over-seven-day incapacity, certain occupational diseases, or defined dangerous occurrences must be reported. Minor accidents causing less than seven days’ absence do not trigger a RIDDOR reporting duty — though they should still be recorded in the accident book.
Yes. Your solicitor can obtain this through the pre-action disclosure process — by requesting all accident-related documentation from your employer — or through a Freedom of Information request to the HSE. If an HSE investigation was conducted following the accident, records from that investigation may also be available.
Tell your solicitor. Discrepancies between what a RIDDOR report states and your account of events are not uncommon — employers sometimes file inaccurate reports that minimise their own responsibility. Your solicitor can challenge an inaccurate RIDDOR account with medical records, witness evidence, and photographs taken at the time.
This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. For advice on your specific circumstances, please contact NJS Law directly.
For a full overview of accident at work claims, including eligibility, time limits and the claims process, see NJS Law’s accident at work claims service page.
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