HSE's RIDDOR consultation closes

The three-month consultation into changes to RIDDOR has been concluded by The Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

The industry body held the consultation to gauge opinion on altering the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR). It is thought that the government is keen to make changes to the legislation, such as extending the length of sick leave following a workplace injury before the employer must report the accident to the HSE. The government wanted to make the changes to try and slash red tape for firms.

Other bodies such as the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), however, have been lobbying to tighten RIDDOR. Currently, road accidents which involve those who are working are not included on the RIDDOR regulations, and this is one of the items RoSPA are pushing to change.

The HSE released a statement following the RIDDOR consultation's conclusion, which read, “The purpose of RIDDOR is to collect information which enables the health and safety-enforcing authorities to select incidents for investigation and possible enforcement action, and to provide statistical data for them to target and plan the application of resources.

The statement continued, “As road traffic legislation is enforced by the police and not health and safety-enforcing authorities, the majority of road traffic accidents are not reportable under RIDDOR. Rather they are reported to the police who, along with other emergency services, will be the first to respond.