RIDDOR UPDATE

Multi-site and EHO-enforced businesses

9 February 2012

This information is the view of the Retail and Distribution Group of IOSH and it is intended to give guidance on the impact of changes to RIDDOR as they affect our particular sector.

Many major multi-site retail and distribution businesses have had accident reporting procedures for many years that enable them to collect and sense-check information before making RIDDOR reports. Now is a good time to revisit those arrangements.

Electronic submission of reports

Since the reporting changes in September 2011 the HSE has been working on an updated way for employers to submit reports electronically. A customer interface specification has been prepared and it is due for full implementation in February 2012. It facilitates electronic notification in a standardised XML format.

Accidents to members of the public - what is reportable?

A by-product of its early testing of new reporting arrangements has been that the HSE team have reportedly come across substantial differences in interpretation of what is reportable in relation to accidents to members of the public. There seem to have been many informal arrangements and local policies that have contributed to this in the past. Examples include the tendency to report all sorts of incidents, no matter the circumstances and the use of local contacts with Inspectors for rulings on reportability.

The result of the HSE's discovery is their re-statement of the need for there to be a clear link between an incident and a work activity. Their web site contains several drop-down sections with examples relevant to accidents to people who are not direct employees, including customers. See this link.  The HSE have a narrower view of what might be reportable than some employers, individual Inspectors or other commentators. They stress that there has to be some sort of causative link between the incident and the conduct of the business; the mere fact that an incident has occurred does not of itself make it reportable.

Hospital check-ups

Sometimes a first aider will suggest that a customer is taken to hospital as a precaution even though they do not appear to have any obvious physical injury. The incident would not be reportable unless the business later learned that the hospital had found a relevant injury.

Our advice to members

It will be important for employers to make sure that they have collected full information and analysed it carefully in potentially borderline cases.

Occasionally an Inspector may demand a RIDDOR report even when, in the view of the safety professional in the business, the incident is not reportable. We would strongly advise our members to review circumstances carefully before acceding to such requests. Whilst the first step should always be to resolve the matter by involving the Inspector's senior officer, with effect from July 2012 there will be a further line of approach through the Independent Regulatory Challenge Panel (see the HSE web site for further details).

The forthcoming changes to RIDDOR itself are not expected to impact on the reporting of accidents to customers and other non-employees but they are another reason why employers should review their arrangements soon. The need for timely and proper collection and analysis of information will remain just as important as it always has been.