The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR) place duties on employers and people in control of premises to report certain work-related incidents to their relevant enforcing authority. Therefore, when an accident occurs on your premises, you must establish promptly whether the matter is one of those that must, by law be officially notified.

If any of the following occur, and arise 'out of or in connection with a work activity', they must be reported to the enforcing authority by the quickest practicable means:

the death of any person as a result of an accident, whether or not they are at work; someone who is at work suffers a major injury as a result of an accident (major injuries are listed in Schedule 1 to the Regulations, including - fractures (other than fingers/toes), amputations, etc); someone who is not at work (eg a member of the public/guest/customer) suffers an injury as a result of an accident and is taken from the scene to a hospital; one of a list of specified dangerous occurrences takes place. (Dangerous occurrences are events which do not necessarily result in a reportable injury, but have the potential to cause significant harm - Schedule 2).

The telephone notification should be followed up in writing within ten days of the accident occurring. The statutory form for accident reporting is an F2508.

The following incidents, again in connection with a work activity, should be notified in writing within ten days on an F2508 form:

someone at work is unable to do the full range of their normal duties for more than three consecutive days as a result of an injury caused by an accident at work; a person at work suffers one of a number of specified diseases, provided that a doctor diagnoses the disease and the persons job involves a specified work activity. (The corresponding work activities are set out in Schedule 3).

You should ensure that an accident book is provided and maintained to record details of all accidents occurring on your premises. You should record the following details: date and time of the incident; full name, address and occupation of the person(s) involved; nature of the injury; location of the incident and a brief description of the circumstances; name (and if necessary, address) of any witnesses; details of the person making the report, and the time/date the report was made.

It is recommended that the accident book be reviewed periodically to ensure that reportable accidents are not missed, and to identify possible trends in accident occurrences. It is also recommended that 'near miss' incidents are recorded and reviewed, as these indicate where accidents are likely and if acted upon, can prevent injuries.