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As previously reported by Unionsafety and commented upon by the NW BTU Health and Safety Co-ord Chairperson Derek Maylor, in his September message; The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has formally implemented changes in line with Government dictate.
Whilst in his review of health and safety legislation, Professor Ragnar Löfstedt recommended that RIDDOR and its associated guidance should be amended by the end of 2013 to provide clarity for businesses on how to “comply with the requirements”, he did not suggest the slashing of the classifications of major injuries.
The HSE claim;
“Changes to the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) 1995 clarify and simplify the reporting requirements, while ensuring that the data collected gives an accurate and useful picture of workplace incidents.”
The reality of course is somewhat different, and this latest move at ‘massaging’ the figures; sees the continuous failure of the HSE to actually gather factual and accurate workplace injuries and deaths statistics.
The main changes are in the following areas:
*The classification of 'major injuries' to workers replaced with a shorter list of 'specified injuries'
*The existing schedule detailing 47 types of industrial disease replaced with eight categories of reportable work-related illness
*Fewer types of 'dangerous occurrence' require reporting
There are no significant changes to the reporting requirements for:
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Fatal accidents
*Accidents to non-workers (members of the public)
*Accidents resulting in a worker being unable to perform their normal range of duties for more than seven days
How an incident at work is reported and the criteria that determine whether an incident should be investigated remain the same.
Commenting on the impact of the changes, Dave Charnock, HSE policy lead for the revisions to RIDDOR, explained:
"Reporting under RIDDOR is a legal requirement for companies. RIDDOR reports, along with all other complaints and information received by HSE, will continue to be examined in conjunction with our Incident Selection Criteria to determine the need for investigations - this is not something new.
It will not alter the current ways to report an incident at work. The principles of what must be recorded remain largely unchanged - everything that is reportable must also be recorded (other than gas events), together with over-3-day lost time accidents.
The aim is to simplify and clarify reporting requirements, whilst ensuring that a useful supply of information is retained, to provide sufficient data for HSE and others to act in a risk-based manner, and to enable European and international obligations to be met.
The proposed changes will facilitate improved reporting of such information, whilst not requiring businesses to provide information that is either not used or could be better obtained from other sources."
The change affects all employers - including the self-employed. New web-based information and guidance is now available on the HSE website here
Source: HSE
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