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Accident investigation

Information on the reporting of workplace accidents and investigation of accidents at work.

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What legislation covers the reporting of accidents at work?

The reporting of accidents at work is covered by the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR).

Not all accidents need to be reported, a RIDDOR report is only required when the accident is work related and it results in a reportable injury. A full list of reportable injuries is proved on the below link.

RIDDOR places a legal duty on ‘responsible persons’ to report:

  • Reportable Injuries
  • Occupational Diseases
  • Dangerous Occurrences
  • Gas Incidents.

For full information on RIDDOR, reportable accidents, incidents and injuries under RIDDOR, please visit the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) website:

Health and Safety Executive (HSE) - RIDDOR (external website)

'Responsible persons' includes employers, the self-employed and people in control of work premises.

How do I report an accident at work?

All RIDDOR reports must be made direct to the HSE Incident Contact Centre, on their website via the link:

How to report under RIDDOR (external website)

In the event you cannot submit a RIDDOR online, please contact the HSE Incident Contact Centre by telephone on 0345 300 9923 (opening hours Monday to Friday 8:30am to 5pm).

The RIDDOR report will be automatically directed to the correct enforcing authority. The enforcing authority will depend on the primary work activity of your business, more information is available on your enforcing authority in the section below:

The council and the HSE are not an emergency service, and in the event of an emergency you should contact the emergency services by telephone using 999, however, in the following circumstances you should contact your enforcing authority out-of-hours:

  • A work-related death
  • A serious incident where there have been multiple casualties
  • Following an incident which has caused major disruption such as evacuation of people, closure of roads, large numbers of people going to hospital etc.

The council's Health and Safety team should be contacted by email at:

health.safety@eastriding.gov.uk

This email is monitored out-of-hours.

For information on how to contact the HSE out-of-hours please visit their website:

HSE out-of-hours (external website)

If you are an employee (or representative) or a member of the public wishing to report an incident about which you have concerns, please visit our Workplace complaints page.

Who is the enforcing authority?

Workplace health and safety legislation in Great Britain is enforced by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) or one of the over 380 local authorities depending on the main activity carried out at any particular premises. For East Riding of Yorkshire Council this function is undertaken by the Health and Safety team.

In general, our service is the main enforcing authority for retail, wholesale distribution and warehousing, hotel and catering premises, offices, and the consumer/leisure industries in the East Riding of Yorkshire area, whereas the HSE are the enforcing authority for sectors such as agriculture, construction, and manufacturing.

As the enforcing authority for workplace health and safety law, our service will support businesses that we act as the enforcing authority for by providing advice on achieving legal compliance, guidance and good practice or signposting to other organisations that publish information and guidance. Businesses enforced by the HSE should contact them for support.

To check if a business is enforced by the Local Authority or the HSE please visit the webpage which includes a full list of work activities:

HSE - Enforcement allocation (external website)

What records do I need to keep for accidents at work?

Organisations must keep a record of any RIDDOR reported and can obtain a copy from the HSE website when making a report online. If you do not keep a copy of the online form your records must include the date and method of reporting; the date, time and place of the event; personal details of those involved; and a brief description of the nature of the event or disease.

In the case of accidents, employers who must keep an accident book (B1510) under Social Security Law can use this for keeping the records of injuries although, a separate method will be needed for cases of disease.

Information submitted on a RIDDOR report is not passed on to insurance companies. Organisations will have to contact their insurer separately and maybe required to do so under the terms of the insurance. Insurers have told the HSE that reporting injuries and illnesses at work to them quickly could save you time and money.

Data protection law requires all completed accident records to be secured so that persons other than those managing the records cannot view them.

Where can I find information on the investigation of accidents?

The council's Health and Safety team can investigate RIDDOR reports for work activities that are enforced by us. We do not investigate all RIDDOR reports, normally we only investigate the most serious work-related incidents, injuries or cases of ill health.

We do not normally investigate accidents or incidents that do not meet the criteria to be reported under RIDDOR. However, we may still investigate to check that there are no current risk of personal injury or breaches of the workplace health and safety law outstanding.

For more information on how to report a health and safety concern, please visit our workplace complaints webpage.

In the event of an investigation a Health and Safety officer may ring you for information regarding the accident, or they may arrive at your premises unannounced. The officer will explain what the investigation will involve and will inform you of the outcome.

For information on how the HSE investigate RIDDOR for work activity enforced by them, please visit:

HSE - working with local government (external website)

Organisations should also investigate accidents to identify action that can be taken to prevent similar incidents occurring again. The HSE have published guidance for investigation of accidents and incidents for employers, unions, safety representatives and safety professionals:

HSE - Investigating accidents and incidents (external website)

What enforcement action will the council take following accident investigations?

The HSE have published guidance for Health and Safety officers to support them in deciding if they should take enforcement action and what sort of enforcement action to take. The guidance is not strict set of rules, but officers will consider this when making decisions.

All enforcement decision and action will be taken in accordance the council's Public Protection Enforcement Policy and the Regulators Code.

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