RIDDOR: What to Report, When and How (UK Guide)

A labourer slips on a wet scaffold board on a Tuesday, jars his wrist and goes home early. By the following Thursday he's still off, and someone in the site office asks the question nobody likes answering on the spot: does this need reporting under RIDDOR, and if so, who reports it and by when? Get it wrong one way and you've filled in a form you didn't need. Get it wrong the other way and you've broken the law.

RIDDOR is the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013. It requires employers, self-employed people and anyone in control of work premises to report certain work-related incidents to the enforcing authority and to keep records of them. Reportable incidents include work-related deaths, specified injuries to workers (such as most fractures), injuries that keep a worker off normal duties for more than seven consecutive days, members of the public taken from the scene to hospital for treatment, certain occupational diseases and listed near misses called dangerous occurrences. Most reports are made online through HSE's RIDDOR forms.

What is RIDDOR and why does it matter?

RIDDOR exists so the enforcing authorities, mainly HSE and local authorities, know when and where people are being hurt at work. The data shapes where inspectors look and what they investigate. It's also where the national figures come from: HSE's key figures report 59,219 non-fatal injuries to employees reported under RIDDOR for 2024/25, and 126 workers killed in work-related accidents in 2025/26 (provisional). You can see both on the HSE statistics overview.

Two points trip people up. First, an incident doesn't have to be anyone's fault to be reportable. HSE's guidance says an accident is work-related if it arises "out of or in connection with work", which can include how the work was organised or supervised, the equipment used, or the condition of the premises. Second, RIDDOR only covers accidents, meaning separate, identifiable, unintended events that cause physical injury. It also includes acts of non-consensual physical violence to people at work, which matters a great deal if you run security teams.

Who is the responsible person under RIDDOR?

The duty to report sits with the "responsible person", defined in regulation 3. In practice:

• Employees: the injured person's employer reports.
• Self-employed people: where a self-employed person is hurt on premises someone else controls, the person in control of those premises reports. Where they're in control of the site themselves, they report it.
• Members of the public and other non-workers: the person in control of the premises where it happened reports.

On a multi-contractor construction site this needs sorting out before anything happens. If a subcontractor's operative breaks an arm, the subcontractor as employer has the duty to report. The principal contractor still needs to know straight away, both to investigate and to review the plan. Write the arrangement into your construction phase plan so nobody assumes someone else has done it.

RIDDOR reportable injuries and incidents

There are six main categories. Most of the confusion is in the detail of each one.

Deaths

Any death of a worker or non-worker that results from a work-related accident must be reported. HSE is clear that suicides and self-harm aren't reportable, because there's no accident causing the death or injury.

Specified injuries to workers

These are the serious injuries listed in regulation 4(1). They're reportable whatever the time off work:

• any fracture, other than to fingers, thumbs and toes
• amputation of an arm, hand, finger, thumb, leg, foot or toe
• any injury likely to lead to permanent loss of sight or reduction in sight in one or both eyes
• any crush injury to the head or torso causing damage to the brain or internal organs
• serious burns, including scalding, which cover more than 10% of the body or cause significant damage to the eyes, respiratory system or other vital organs
• any scalping requiring hospital treatment
• any loss of consciousness caused by head injury or asphyxia
• any other injury arising from working in an enclosed space which leads to hypothermia or heat-induced illness, or requires resuscitation or admittance to hospital for more than 24 hours

Over-seven-day injuries

If a worker is away from work, or can't do their normal duties, for more than seven consecutive days because of a work-related accident, it's reportable. The day of the accident isn't counted, but weekends and rest days are. Light duties count as "not doing normal duties", so moving someone into the site office doesn't take the injury out of RIDDOR.

Injuries that cause more than three consecutive days' incapacity don't need reporting, but they must be recorded (see record keeping below).

Injuries to members of the public

If a member of the public or other non-worker is injured in a work-related accident and taken from the scene to hospital for treatment, it's reportable. HSE's examples make the distinction clear: if they go to hospital purely as a precaution and no injury is found, you don't report it. Examinations and tests on their own don't count as treatment.

Occupational diseases

Regulation 8 lists six diseases that must be reported when the responsible person receives a diagnosis and the person's work involves the relevant activity:

• carpal tunnel syndrome, where the work involves regular use of percussive or vibrating tools
• severe cramp of the hand or forearm, where the work involves prolonged periods of repetitive movement of the fingers, hand or arm
• occupational dermatitis, where there's significant or regular exposure to a known skin sensitiser or irritant
• hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS), where the work involves regular use of percussive or vibrating tools
• occupational asthma, where there's significant or regular exposure to a known respiratory sensitiser
• tendonitis or tenosynovitis in the hand or forearm, where the work is physically demanding and involves frequent, repetitive movements

Certain occupational cancers and diseases caused by exposure to biological agents are also reportable. For the vibration side of this, our HAVS assessment guide covers exposure limits and health surveillance.

Dangerous occurrences

These are near misses with the potential to cause serious harm, listed in Schedule 2. Nobody needs to be hurt. The ones most relevant to construction and FM include:

• the collapse, overturning or failure of any load-bearing part of lifting equipment
• plant or equipment unintentionally coming into contact with uninsulated overhead power lines over 200 volts, or coming close enough to cause an electrical discharge
• an explosion or fire caused by an electrical short circuit or overload that stops the plant for more than 24 hours or creates a significant risk of death
• the complete or partial collapse of any substantial part of a scaffold more than 5 metres high
• the unintended collapse, during construction or maintenance work, of a structure where more than 5 tonnes of material falls, or of a wall or floor in a place of work

Gas engineers have separate reporting duties for certain gas incidents and dangerous gas fittings, and HSE has specific online forms for those. If that's your trade, it's worth reading alongside our RAMS for gas engineers.

RIDDOR reporting deadlines

The deadline depends on what happened:

• Deaths, specified injuries, members of the public taken to hospital for treatment, and dangerous occurrences: notify the enforcing authority without delay, and make sure the report is received within 10 days of the incident.
• Over-seven-day injuries: report within 15 days of the accident.
• Occupational diseases: report as soon as you receive a diagnosis.

A practical tip for the over-seven-day rule: put a calendar reminder in on day one for anyone who goes home injured. By the time you know they've passed seven days, a chunk of the 15 is already gone.

How to report under RIDDOR 2013

Most reports are made online.

1. Go to HSE's online RIDDOR forms.
2. Pick the right form: injury, dangerous occurrence, case of disease, flammable gas incident or dangerous gas fitting.
3. Fill it in with the details of the incident, the injured person, the injury and what they were doing at the time.
4. Submit it and download a copy for your records. The online system gives you that option once the form is sent.

For fatal accidents and specified injuries to workers only, you can phone HSE's Incident Contact Centre on 0345 300 9923, Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 5pm. Outside those hours, HSE runs an out-of-hours route for work-related deaths and serious incidents involving multiple casualties or major disruption. Everything else can go through the online forms at any time.

Before you start, have the date, time and location, the injured person's details, a factual account of what happened and the nature of the injury to hand. Stick to facts. Your own investigation is the place for the deeper analysis.

What RIDDOR records do you need to keep?

Regulation 12 says the responsible person must keep a record of every reportable incident and every over-three-day injury, and keep each entry for at least three years. The record must be kept where the work is carried out or at the usual place of business.

A decent accident book can meet this if it captures the details the regulations ask for. Keep a copy of every online submission with it. Inspectors often want to see what changed afterwards too, as our piece on what HSE inspectors look for in risk assessments explains.

RIDDOR examples from real UK sites

Here's how the rules apply to situations that come up every week.

Construction

• A scaffolder falls from a ladder and breaks a wrist. That's a fracture, so it's a specified injury. Notify without delay and make sure the report's received within 10 days.
• An operative drops a kerb on his foot and breaks a toe. Toe fractures aren't specified injuries, so it's only reportable if he's off or unable to do his normal job for more than seven consecutive days. If he is, report within 15 days.
• A section of scaffold more than 5 metres high partly collapses overnight. Nobody's hurt. It's still a dangerous occurrence and must be reported.
• A tipper lorry's raised body touches an overhead line on a housing site. No injury, but it's a dangerous occurrence.

Security

• A door supervisor is punched while removing a customer and suffers a broken nose. That's non-consensual physical violence connected to work, and the fracture is a specified injury. It's reportable.
• A patrol officer is verbally abused but not physically hurt. Not reportable under RIDDOR, though you should still log it and look at your controls.
• A mobile patrol officer is injured in a collision on a public road. Most road traffic accidents on public roads aren't reportable under RIDDOR. The police deal with them. There are exceptions, such as incidents during loading or unloading, or on private site roads.

For teams dealing with violence risk, our guide to security risk assessments and the door supervisor RAMS page go into the controls in more detail.

Facilities management

• A visitor slips on a freshly mopped floor in a reception area, is taken to A&E by ambulance and treated for a broken wrist. The person in control of the premises reports it, because a member of the public was taken from the scene to hospital for treatment.
• A different visitor trips, feels shaken and is taken to hospital as a precaution. The hospital finds no injury. Not reportable.
• A maintenance engineer who's used breakers and grinders for years is diagnosed with HAVS. Once the employer receives the diagnosis, it's a reportable occupational disease.
• A lift's load-bearing component fails during servicing. That's a dangerous occurrence, even if the car was empty.

Our facilities management risk assessment guide covers the everyday hazards behind most FM incidents, from wet floors to contractor control.

After the report: review the RAMS

Reporting is the legal minimum. Under regulation 3(3) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, a risk assessment must be reviewed if there's reason to suspect it's no longer valid. A reportable incident is usually that reason.

Ask three questions. Did the RAMS cover the task as it was actually being done? Were the controls in it actually in place? And did the people doing the job know what the RAMS said? If the answer to the last one is no, a toolbox talk on the revised method is often the quickest way to close the gap.

How swiftRMS helps

swiftRMS doesn't report incidents to HSE. That's your job, through HSE's own forms. Where it helps is the step after: getting a revised RAMS drafted quickly so work can restart on a better footing.

You describe the task, the site and what went wrong, and swiftRMS drafts a RAMS with hazards, controls and a method statement that cites the relevant legislation. It's a starting point that's ready for review. A competent person on your side still reviews, edits and approves it before anyone works to it, as the Management Regulations expect. You can see what the output looks like on our example RAMS page.

If you've got an incident review coming up and need a revised method statement to work from, try a free RAMS preview with no signup. If it's useful, there's a 14-day free trial with no card needed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a broken finger reportable under RIDDOR?

Not as a specified injury, because fractures to fingers, thumbs and toes are excluded from that list. It becomes reportable if the worker is away from work or can't do their normal duties for more than seven consecutive days, not counting the day of the accident. In that case, report within 15 days of the accident.

Does RIDDOR apply to self-employed workers and subcontractors?

Yes. If a self-employed person is injured on premises someone else controls, such as a construction site, the person in control of the site reports it. If they're working on premises they control themselves, they report it. For employed subcontractor operatives, the duty sits with their employer, so agree the reporting arrangements before work starts.

Is violence against security staff reportable?

Physical violence is reportable if the injury meets one of the RIDDOR thresholds, such as a specified injury or more than seven days off normal duties. HSE treats non-consensual physical violence to people at work as an accident. Verbal abuse on its own isn't reportable, and nor is a purely personal dispute that happens to take place at work.

What happens if you don't report under RIDDOR?

Failing to report a reportable incident breaks the regulations, and breaching health and safety regulations is a criminal offence under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. A late or missing report also tends to come up if HSE later investigates the incident or looks at your accident records.

How long do you have to keep RIDDOR records?

At least three years from the date the entry was made. The record must cover reportable incidents and injuries that kept a worker off normal duties for more than three consecutive days. Keep it where the work is carried out or at your usual place of business.

Official Resources

• HSE: RIDDOR overview
• HSE: How to make a RIDDOR report
• HSE: Specified injuries to workers
• HSE: Examples of reportable incidents
• HSE: Reporting accidents and incidents at work (INDG453)
• legislation.gov.uk: The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013