HSE consults on proposals to revise accident and disease reporting requirements

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has launched a consultation on proposals to revise the occupational accident and disease reporting requirements under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (SI 1995/3163). 

The consultation follows recommendations made in the Government's report, Common sense, common safety (PDF format, 685K) and the report by Professor Löfstedt following his review of health and safety legislation, Reclaiming health and safety for all: An independent review of health and safety regulation (PDF format, 781K). 

The aim of the proposed amendments is to simplify how businesses comply with the reporting requirements, which require that, in certain circumstances, accidents and ill health at work must be reported by a "responsible person" (usually the employer) to the health and safety enforcing authority. 

The HSE has proposed that the new reporting requirements should: 

  • focus on the operational information needs of enforcing authorities;
  • ensure that there is adequate information for the HSE and others to act in a risk-based manner; and
  • simplify the reporting requirements by:
    • removing the duties to report occupational diseases where this information is of little use or unreliable;
    • removing duties to report incidents where there are other legally binding or established mechanisms for reporting the same incidents to other agencies or regulators; and
    • reviewing the language of the reporting Regulations to aid compliance. 

The HSE's proposed changes include: 

  • a simplification of the list of reportable major injuries sustained by people at work; and
  • the removal of the following reporting requirements:
    • occupational disease cases except for those caused by work-related exposure to a biological agent;
    • non-fatal accidents to people not at work;
    • dangerous occurrences outside higher risk sectors or activities; and
    • the reporting by self-employed persons of injuries or illnesses to themselves. 

While the proposals are intended to balance the need to provide an appropriate and effective reporting mechanism for the HSE and the demands on business, the HSE stressed that the proposals do not represent a fundamental change to its established policy and strategy. 

The consultation closes on 28 October 2012. 

Also

How should an employer respond to an over-seven-day injury? The XpertHR FAQs section answers this and other frequently asked questions regarding health and safety. 

How to produce an accident report The XpertHR "how to" section provides practical step-by-step guidance on how to comply with the law on health and safety at work including how to produce an accident report.