Health & Safety Executive consults on simplifying RIDDOR regime

The Health and Safety Executive has kicked off a 12-week consultation on changes to the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) 1995.

The proposed changes would:

• remove the duty to report in cases where the information is “of little use or better collected through other means, while still ensuring that sufficient, quality data is available”;
• mean self-employed people no longer have to report injuries or illness to themselves; and
• remove both the duty on employers to report dangerous occurrences outside of high-risk sectors/activities and requirements to report most occupational diseases.

The HSE confirmed that the need to report all fatal injuries to workers and those to members of the public as a result of a work activity would remain, as would the duty to report major injuries to workers.

David Charnock, HSE's consultation manager, said: "We are proposing to simplify the requirements by removing the duty to report in those areas where the information can be better obtained from other sources or where the data isn't particularly useful to the regulators.

“The proposals do not indicate any change in HSE's policy or strategic objectives, and we will continue to focus our investigations on those incidents that meet our published selection criteria."

The changes are the watchdog’s response to a recommendation in Professor Löfstedt's report in November 2011 that ambiguity over reporting requirements should be removed.

The consultation paper can be found here. The consultation will last until 28 October 2012.