RIDDOR Explained — What Trade Businesses Must Report and When (2026)

What Is RIDDOR and Why It Exists

RIDDOR is the framework that requires work-related deaths, serious injuries, certain occupational diseases and "dangerous occurrences" (specified near-misses) to be reported to the HSE. The point is not to punish — it's to give the regulator data about where and how serious harm happens, so that risks can be identified and tackled across industries. For the construction and trades sector, which consistently records some of the highest rates of fatal and major injury in the UK, that data matters.

Reporting an incident under RIDDOR is not an admission of fault. It is a legal obligation that applies regardless of whose mistake caused the incident. Failing to report a reportable incident, on the other hand, is a breach of the regulations and can itself lead to enforcement action — even where the underlying incident was nobody's fault.

Who Has the Duty to Report — the "Responsible Person"

RIDDOR does not place the duty on whoever happens to witness an incident. It places it on a specific legal role: the responsible person. Who that is depends on the situation:

• Employees injured at work: the employer is the responsible person and must report.
• Self-employed working on someone else's premises: the person in control of those premises (for example the main contractor or site principal) is usually responsible.
• Self-employed working on your own premises or controlling the work: you (or someone acting for you) are the responsible person and must report yourself.
• Members of the public, clients or visitors injured: the person in control of the premises where the work is being carried out reports.

For a typical subcontractor on a domestic job, this matters in practice. If you are working alone in a customer's home and suffer a specified injury, the duty to report falls on you. On a larger commercial site, the principal contractor will usually take on reporting, but you should never assume it has been done — confirm it, and keep your own record either way.

What Is Reportable Under RIDDOR

Not every cut, slip or bruise is reportable. RIDDOR sets out defined categories. Knowing the boundaries is what stops you either over-reporting trivia or — far more dangerously — missing something you were legally required to report.

1. Deaths

Any work-related death must be reported. This includes the death of a worker or a member of the public caused by a work-related accident. It also covers deaths that occur within one year of a reportable work-related injury, where the death results from that injury.

2. Specified injuries to workers

These are the serious injuries that must be reported regardless of how much time off work they cause. The list includes:

• Fractures, other than to fingers, thumbs and toes
• Amputation of an arm, hand, finger, thumb, leg, foot or toe
• Permanent loss of sight or reduction of sight in one or both eyes
• Crush injuries to the head or torso causing damage to the brain or internal organs
• Serious burns covering more than 10% of the body, or damaging the eyes, respiratory system or other vital organs
• Scalpings (separation of skin from the head) requiring hospital treatment
• Loss of consciousness caused by head injury or asphyxia
• Any other injury arising from working in an enclosed space leading to hypothermia, heat-induced illness, or requiring resuscitation or admittance to hospital for more than 24 hours

3. Over-7-day incapacitation injuries

If a worker is incapacitated for more than seven consecutive days (not counting the day of the accident, but counting weekends and rest days) because of a work-related injury, this must be reported. "Incapacitated" means they cannot carry out their normal work duties — it does not require them to be off work entirely if they are doing restricted or light duties they would not normally do.

4. Injuries to non-workers (members of the public)

If a member of the public or a person not at work — a client, a passer-by, a visitor — is injured by a work-related accident and is taken directly to hospital for treatment, the incident is reportable. Examination alone does not trigger a report; the threshold is that the person is taken to hospital for treatment in connection with the accident. For trades working in occupied homes and public-facing settings, this is a category that's easy to overlook.

5. Occupational diseases

Certain diseases are reportable where a doctor has diagnosed them in writing and the person's work is likely to have caused or contributed to them. The most relevant for trades include:

• Carpal tunnel syndrome, where work involves regular use of percussive or vibrating tools
• Hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS), where work involves regular use of vibrating tools
• Occupational dermatitis, where work involves significant or regular exposure to a known skin sensitiser or irritant
• Occupational asthma, where work involves significant or regular exposure to a known respiratory sensitiser
• Tendonitis or tenosynovitis of the hand or forearm from repetitive physical work
• Any occupational cancer, or disease attributed to an occupational exposure to a biological agent

HAVS and dermatitis are particularly relevant to groundworkers, plant operators, joiners, plasterers, decorators and anyone in regular contact with cement, resins or solvents. The trigger is a written diagnosis linking the condition to the work.

6. Dangerous occurrences (near-misses)

RIDDOR lists specified "dangerous occurrences" — significant near-miss events that must be reported even if nobody was actually hurt, because of their potential to cause serious harm. Examples relevant to trades include:

• The collapse or partial collapse of scaffolding over five metres high
• The collapse or failure of load-bearing parts of lifts and lifting equipment
• The unintended collapse of any structure, or part of a structure, under construction or demolition involving more than five tonnes of material
• The accidental release of any substance that could cause injury to health
• Plant or equipment coming into contact with overhead power lines, or electrical short circuits causing fire or explosion
• Failure of a freight container or any of its load-bearing parts

7. Gas incidents (Gas Safe related)

There are two distinct gas-related duties. First, any flammable gas incident in domestic or other premises that causes death, loss of consciousness or hospital treatment must be reported. Second, Gas Safe registered engineers have a duty to report any gas appliance or fitting they consider to be so dangerous (because of its design, construction, installation, modification or servicing) that it could cause death, loss of consciousness or hospital treatment. This second duty falls specifically on registered gas engineers and is a core part of working safely under Gas Safe registration.

Reporting Timescales — When You Must Report

Timescales are where businesses most often fall foul of RIDDOR. Different categories carry different deadlines, and the clock generally starts from the date of the incident or the date of diagnosis. Get the deadline wrong and you can breach the regulations even when you fully intended to comply.

For the most serious events — deaths, specified injuries and dangerous occurrences — there are effectively two steps: an initial notification "without delay" (in practice by phone for fatal and major incidents), followed by the formal written report within 10 days. For over-7-day injuries you have a more generous 15 days, but the clock still runs from the date of the accident, not the date you realised the absence had crossed seven days.

The Over-3-Day RECORDING Requirement (Not Reporting)

This is the distinction that catches people out most often. There is a separate, lower threshold that requires you to record — but not report to the HSE — an injury that keeps a worker off their normal duties for more than three consecutive days (again, not counting the day of the accident).

So the rule is: over three days = record it (in your accident book or equivalent record under the management regulations); over seven days = report it to the HSE as well. A four-day incapacitation must be written down but does not go to the HSE. An eight-day incapacitation must be both recorded and reported. Treat the accident book record as the foundation — if your records are accurate, working out which incidents cross the seven-day reporting line becomes straightforward.

How to Report to the HSE

Most reports are made online through the HSE's RIDDOR reporting service. There are separate online forms for each type of report — injury, dangerous occurrence, disease, gas incident and so on. You complete the relevant form on the HSE website and submit it; you receive a copy for your records.

• Online: for the great majority of reports — over-7-day injuries, specified injuries, diseases, dangerous occurrences and non-worker injuries — use the appropriate online form on the HSE site.
• Telephone: the HSE Incident Contact Centre operates a phone line specifically for reporting fatal and specified (major) injuries, and other very serious incidents that require notification without delay. Use the phone line for those most serious events during working hours; use the online form for everything else.

Whichever route you use, keep the confirmation. The HSE returns a copy of every online report, and you should file it alongside your accident records. If a report was made on your behalf — for example by a principal contractor — ask for a copy.

Record-Keeping Requirements

RIDDOR requires you to keep a record of any reportable incident, as well as any over-3-day injury. Your record must include the personal details of those involved, the date, time and place of the event, a brief description of the nature of the event or disease, and the method by which it was reported. These records must be kept for at least three years from the date they were made.

In practice the simplest way to meet this is a well-maintained accident book combined with copies of every RIDDOR report you submit. If you keep your records digitally, make sure they capture the same information and are backed up. Records are not just a compliance tick-box — they are the first thing an HSE inspector will ask to see, and they are your evidence that you take health and safety seriously.

Why RIDDOR Matters for Trade Businesses

It's tempting to treat RIDDOR as paperwork that only big firms need to worry about. That's a mistake. The duty applies to sole traders and small firms exactly as it applies to large contractors, and the consequences of getting it wrong are real.

• Penalties: failing to report a reportable incident is a breach of the regulations and can lead to enforcement, including prosecution and unlimited fines in the most serious cases.
• Evidence of H&S management: consistent, accurate reporting and record-keeping is one of the clearest signs to the HSE — and to clients vetting you for work — that you manage health and safety properly.
• It links to your wider duties: your accident book, your risk assessments and your method statements all feed into the same picture. An incident that gets reported under RIDDOR should also prompt a review of the relevant risk assessment to stop it happening again.
• Insurance and tenders: insurers and principal contractors increasingly expect to see evidence of an incident-reporting system. Being able to show one wins work and keeps cover valid.

Practical Tips for Staying Compliant

• Keep an accident book on every site or van. Record everything, even minor incidents — you cannot decide whether something crosses the seven-day line later if it was never written down.
• Diarise the seven-day point. When a worker is injured and off normal duties, note the date. If they're still incapacitated at day seven, you have a report to make within 15 days of the accident.
• Don't assume the contractor reported it. On larger sites, confirm in writing who is making the RIDDOR report and get a copy of the confirmation.
• Treat written diagnoses as triggers. If an employee hands you a GP or occupational health letter diagnosing HAVS, dermatitis or carpal tunnel linked to their work, that letter starts your reporting duty.
• Review the risk assessment after every report. A RIDDOR report should never be the end of the matter — it's the prompt to fix the underlying cause.
• Keep records for at least three years and store copies of every report you submit alongside them.

This guide is a practical overview, not legal advice. RIDDOR contains detailed definitions and edge cases, and the HSE's own guidance is the authoritative source — if you're ever unsure whether something is reportable, the safe course is to check the HSE guidance or report it rather than risk missing a deadline.