Reportable RIDDOR or not ?

[TWDB]

All,
hopefully a quick one.


Guy hurts back at work. continues to work for the rest of week(weds to Friday - 3 days).He goes home for the weekend (never works weekends), phones in Monday bad back been signed off for 2 weeks

RIDDOR reportable or not?? and if so when does the clock start for the reporting period?

Thanks

T

[Alexis]

I have taken this from a past post TW.

Reg 4 of RIDDOR is clear: Where any person at work is incapacitated for routine work for more than seven consecutive days (excluding the day of the accident) because of an injury resulting from an accident arising out of or in connection with that work So disregard Bank Holidays and weekends as non-working days.

If a person is unable to perform his/her normal work duties for 7 consecutive days (which includes holidays, BH and weekends) but excludes the day of the incident itself, then the incident becomes reportable.

In this case the day of the incident, Thursday, doesn't count, Friday is Day 1, Saturday is Day 2, Sunday 3, Monday (BH) 4, Tues 5, Weds 6, Thursday is Day 7. If the Employee is not back at work or is still unable to perform their normal duties (i.e. signed off as fit for work) on the Thursday (Day 7) then the incident is reportable.

This is the past post. http://www.healthandsafetytips.co.uk/fo ... le#p333325" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[TWDB]

Thanks Alexis

still not completely clear on my example

T

[Alexis]

Thanks Alexis

still not completely clear on my example

T

Neither am I. I'm sure someone will come in who has had this scenario.

[witsd]

I'm actually struggling to find a simple answer for this – the letter of the law doesn't seem to allow for delays between the accident and time taken off, and neither do any of the examples I've seen, so I'll be interested to hear the 'final' interpretation.

With that said, leaving the letter of the law aside, the spirit of RIDDOR is that the HSE should be notified of any serious accident at work. Is this a significant accident that the HSE might be interested in? I would think so.

And as always, my fallback position would be: If in doubt, just report it.

[fs1982]

I had a very similar issue earlier this year and I was unsure and contacted HSE for advice - they advised that the fact they returned to work after the accident and worked as normal for a few days before broke the chain of events to make the incident reportable under RIDDOR.

In our case an employee badly cut his finger, sought medical attention to get wound cleaned/stiched, dressed etc and returned to work a couple of hours later. 3 days later it became clear that the wound had got badly infected as it hadn't been cleaned properly; the infection was so bad it required surgery under general aneasthetic to clean it which resulted in the IP being off work/unable to do their normal duties for more than 7 days (they returned to work in reduced admin/supervision capacity).

[TWDB]

Thanks for all you inputs, I have enquired with our company H&S helpline (we have a subscription) the same question asked here so

hopefully will get an answer formally from them which I will post.

Thanks

T

[DennisH]

TWDB,

did the IP who worked Wed-Fri continue with there normal duties ?. if so it would not be Riddor reportable. Below is an extract from a response made by the HSE advisory team following a request for clarification from a Primary authority for assured advice.

The HSE have now provided us with the following response following our query to them:

Therefore for accidents resulting in the over-seven-day incapacitation of a worker, you must notify the enforcing authority within the 15 days of the incident. Although the responsible person may not know that the incident is reportable until notified that the Injured Person (IP) will be off for more than seven days, it would be expected that through internal accident procedures they are aware of the incident and therefore should know that there is a possibility that it will need reporting.

For the over seven day incapacitation to be reportable the time would start from the day after the incident. If there is a gap between an incident and the start of any incapacitation this would not be reportable as there has been a break in the link between the two.

Dennis

[TWDB]

Thanks Dennis

Yes normal duties,

interesting findings already from the investigation - plot thickening


Thanks all for your assistance as ever

T

[ddlh]

To me it would depend on the incident - if he was struck by something or fell and suffered bruising / cuts etc. I would report.

But if it was just a twinge from lifting or a general activity I would not report due to the time lag. I would however record and investigate and keep for future reference. I would also look at previous medical history and a discreet check on his weekend sporting activities?

Dave

[stephen1974]

Interesting. Another thread bought me here but I thought i'd post here not there.

I recently had an injury that has turned out to be quite significant, with multiple periods off of work including a 10 day period, being withdrawn from normal duties, and ultimately having to change work as 4 months on i've not recovered. The incident that caused it was not reported as at the time, it was barely noticeable and symptoms didnt start to show for several days. The incident being moving heavy objects, which other members of staff continued to do and still continue to do as far as I know.

For me its been a career changing incident. For the company i worked for, its an inconvenience to get my shifts covered because the chain has been broken, its not reportable and no one is going to hold them accountable.

It's not the first time I've experienced such a thing either. I was once asked to move perspex sheets at work and ended up breathing in a lot of perspex dust. That gave me a severe incapacitating (falling on the floor unable to breath) cough, but didn't start until a couple of days later.

Not every injury is immediately apparent.

[QHSS]

IF IN DOUBT REPORT.