Recording and reporting accidents

Some incidents, where they are related to work, must be notified in writing to the relevant enforcing authority, either the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) or the local authority (see Chapter 2 on how to identify the correct enforcing authority for each sector).

The HSE publishes details of reported incidents, broken down by type of incident, geographical region and sector at: www.hse.gov.uk/statistics.

In September 2011, arrangements for reporting incidents to the HSE were changed. Telephone reporting is now only possible for accidents involving death or major injury (tel: 0845 300 9923). All other reporting must be done online. It is no longer possible to notify using fax or email. There are seven different online RIDDOR reporting forms covering different kinds of incident. Information on how to report can be found on the HSE website at: www.hse.gov.uk/riddor/report.htm.