RIDDOR Reporting: When You Must Report and What Happens If You Don't

Why RIDDOR Trips People Up

The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 — RIDDOR — should be straightforward. Something bad happens, you report it. But it isn't that simple, because the regulations define very specific categories with very specific criteria, and the consequences of getting it wrong go both ways. Under-report and you're breaking the law. Over-report and you create a paper trail that suggests your site is more dangerous than it actually is, which can affect tender scoring, insurance premiums, and client relationships.

I've worked with site managers who've reported bruised ribs as a specified injury and others who didn't report a broken ankle because the operative "went to A&E on his own time." Both are wrong. The regulations don't care about intent or convenience — they care about what happened and what the outcome was.

The Categories That Matter on a Construction Site

Deaths. If someone dies as a result of a work-related accident, you must report it immediately by phone to the HSE, followed by a written report within 10 days. No ambiguity here.

Specified injuries. This is the category that causes the most confusion. The list includes fractures (other than to fingers, thumbs, and toes), dislocations of the shoulder, hip, knee, or spine, amputations, crush injuries leading to internal organ damage, serious burns covering more than 10% of the body, scalping, loss of consciousness caused by head injury or asphyxia, and any injury requiring admittance to hospital for more than 24 hours. The key word is "admittance" — turning up at A&E and being sent home the same day doesn't count as hospital admittance.

Over-seven-day incapacitation. If a worker is injured and can't do their normal duties for more than seven consecutive days (not counting the day of the accident), that's reportable. It doesn't have to be seven days off work entirely — if they're on light duties because they physically cannot do their normal role, the clock is ticking. This is the one that most sites miss, because the seven-day threshold creeps up on you. Someone hurts their back on Monday, comes in on light duties all week, and by the following Tuesday you realise it's been eight days and you haven't reported it.

Dangerous occurrences. This is the "near miss with serious potential" category. Collapse of scaffolding over 5 metres, overturning of a crane, collapse of a trench deeper than 1.5 metres, unintentional contact with underground services, explosion or fire causing work stoppage for more than 24 hours — the full list is in Schedule 2 of the regulations and it's worth printing out and pinning to the site office wall.

Who Reports and When

The "responsible person" makes the report. On a construction site under CDM 2015, that's typically the principal contractor for their workers and for site conditions, and each employer for their own employees' injuries. In practice, the site manager usually coordinates it. Reports must be made to the HSE via their online portal at riddor.hse.gov.uk, or by phone for fatalities and major incidents.

Timings matter. Deaths and specified injuries must be reported without delay — the phone call should happen the same day. Over-seven-day injuries must be reported within 15 days of the accident. Dangerous occurrences must be reported without delay. Late reporting isn't just an admin failure — it's a criminal offence.

What Happens If You Don't Report

Failure to report under RIDDOR is a criminal offence. The HSE can prosecute, and the fines are unlimited in the Crown Court. In the Magistrates' Court you're looking at up to £20,000 per offence. But the legal penalty isn't usually the worst outcome. What really hurts is when the HSE investigates an incident, discovers it should have been reported weeks ago, and concludes that your safety management system is fundamentally broken. That investigation turns from a single incident into a full site audit, and that's where the enforcement notices, improvement notices, and prohibition notices start stacking up.

Equally, there's a reputational cost. If you're working under a framework like C2V+ for a water company client, your RIDDOR reporting rate directly affects your KPIs. Non-reporting doesn't make the numbers look better — it makes you look dishonest when it comes to light, and it always comes to light.

Use a Decision Tool

If you're not sure whether an incident is reportable, don't guess. Ebrora's RIDDOR Decision Tool walks you through the questions step by step and tells you whether you need to report, what category it falls under, and what the deadline is. It takes about two minutes and it removes the doubt.

Once you've decided to report, the RIDDOR Report Builder generates a structured report with all the details the HSE portal asks for, so you're not scrambling to remember the specifics when you're filling in the online form under pressure. Keep your H&S compliance tracking up to date and RIDDOR reporting becomes part of the routine rather than a panic.