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Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurences Regulations

The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurences Regulations , 1995 (RIDDOR)

reporting accidents and ill health at work is a legal requirement of employers

1. when an employee, self employed contractor or member of the public is killed or suffers a major injury: this must be followed up with a completed accident report within 10 days;

2. when an employee suffers an injury (including violence) which keeps them off work for more than 3 days;

3. if a doctor tells the employer that the employee suffers from a notifiable disease;

4. if a dangerous occurrence does not result in a reportable injury but clearly could have done.

Reportable major injuries are:

fracture other than to fingers, thumbs or toes;

amputation;

dislocation of shoulder, hip, knee, spine;

loss of sight (temporary or permanent);

chemical or hot metal burn or any penetrating injury to the eye;

injury from electric shock or burn resulting in unconciousness or 24 hours in hospital;

any other injury leading to:

hypothermia;

heat induced illness or unconciousness;

requires resuscitation;

requires admittance to hospital for more than 24 hours;

unconciousness caused by asphyxia, exposure to a harmful substance, or biological agent;

acute illness requiring medical treatment;

loss of conciousness arising from absorption of any substance by inhalation, ingestion or through the skin;

acute illness requiring medical treatment where there is reason to believe that this results from exposure to a biological agent or its toxins or infected material.

Reportable dangerous occurences include:

Collapse, overturning or failure of load bearing parts and lifting gear;

Explosion, collapse or bursting of any closed vessel or associated pipework;

Failure of any freight container in any of its load bearing parts;

Plant or equipment coming into contact with overhead power lines;

Electrical short circuit or overload causing fire or explosion;

Any unintentional explosion, misfire, failure of demolition to cause the intended collapse, projection of material beyond a site boundary, injury caused by an explosion;

Accidental release of a biological agent likely to cause severe human illness;

Failure of industrial radiography or irradiation equipment to de-energise or return to its safe position after the intended exposure period;

malfunction of breathing apparatus while in use or during testing immediately before use;

collapse or partial collapse of a scaffold over five metres high, or erected near water where there could be a risk of drowning after a fall;

dangerous occurrence at a well;

dangerous occurrence at a pipeline;

accidental release of any substance which may damage health.

Reportable diseases include:

certain poisonings;

skin diseases such as:

occupational dermatitis,

skin cancer,

chrome ulcer,

oil folliculitis;

lung diseases including:

occupational asthma,

farmer's lung,

pneumoconiosis,

asbestosis,

mesothelioma;

infections such as:

leptospirosis,

hepatitis,

tuberculosis,

anthrax,

legionellosis,

tetanus;

other conditions such as:

occupational cancer,

certain musculoskeletal disorders,

decompression illness,

hand-arm vibration syndrome.