The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has announced that from 6 April 2012 the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations SI 1995/3163 (RIDDOR) will change with regard to incapacitation.
RIDDOR aims to allow the relevant authorities to investigate serious accidents, and requires employers and the self-employed to report major injuries, diseases and dangerous occurrences. Under the current Regulations, if someone at work has become incapacitated for more than three consecutive days because of an injury from an accident at work, the responsible person must send a report to the enforcing authority within 10 days of the accident.
From 6 April 2012, and subject to approval from Parliament, the law around incapacitation will change, so that the number of days of incapacitation that will trigger a report changes from three days to seven. This means that the relevant person only has to report injuries that lead to a worker being incapacitated for more than seven consecutive days as a result of an injury or accident at work.
The deadline by which the over seven day injuries must be reported also increases from 10 days to 15 days from the accident. However, those with responsibility under RIDDOR must still keep a record of all over three day injuries.
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