Industrial Accidents

(asked on 6th January 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential for delays in reporting work place accidents to allow employers time to conceal evidence important to investigations.


Answered by
Mims Davies Portrait
Mims Davies
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
This question was answered on 11th January 2021

The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR) places duties on employers, the self-employed and people in control of work premises (the Responsible Person) to report certain workplace injuries, occupational diseases and specified dangerous occurrences (near misses).

The timescales for submitting reports under RIDDOR are contained within Schedule 1 to the regulation. In respect of injuries, fatalities and dangerous occurrences the responsible person must notify the relevant enforcing authority of the reportable incident by the quickest practicable means without delay; and send a report of that incident in an approved manner to the relevant enforcing authority (the Health and Safety Executive) within 10 days of the incident occurring.

Should there be either a failure or significant delay in a report being made by the responsible person, then the Enforcing Authority would include this factor as a line of enquiry in any subsequent investigation.

Failure to report under RIDDOR is a criminal offence and the responsible person can be sentenced in the Magistrates’ Court with a fine up to £20,000, or in the Crown Court with an unlimited fine.

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