HSE unveils changes to workplace injury reporting

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has issued changes to its workplace regulations in order to clarify and simplify reporting requirements for businesses, including those in waste management.

Changes to the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) 1995, which requires employees to report and keep record of workplace related-deaths and injuries, were first proposed in July (see letsrecycle.com story).

RIDDOR 2013 sees the classification of major injuries to workers replaced with a shorter list of specific injuries, including serious burns covering more than 10% of the body, amputations, fractures (excluding thumbs, fingers and toes) and injury leading to permanent or reduced loss in sight.

The revised regulations also see the existing schedule detailing 47 types of industrial disease replaced with eight categories of reportable work-related illness.

Fewer types of dangerous occurrence will also need reporting, so as to obtain information primarily about incidents with a high potential to cause death or serious injury, but which happen relatively infrequently.

Accidents

There are however no significant changes to reports of fatal accidents, accidents suffered by members of the public, or accidents resulting in a worker being unable to perform their normal range of duties for more than seven days.

Based on Professor Lfstedts recommendations to the Government in a report entitled Reclaiming Health and Safety for All, HSE hopes the changes will mean data collected gives an accurate and useful picture of workplace incidents.

They follow similar rule changes implemented in April 2012, after recommendations by Lord Young in his 2010 report Common Sense, Common Safety, saw the HSE aim to reduce administrative burden on businesses (see letsrecycle story).

The 2012 measures prompted criticism from Waste Industry Safety and Health (WISH) forum chair Chris Jones, who argued changes to legislation would not reduce the number of accidents and could even result in data discrepancies.

Reporting

Commenting on the regulations launched yesterday, Dave Charnock, HSE policy lead for the revisions to RIDDOR, explained that while reporting under the regulations are a legal requirement for companies, the changes would not alter the current way in which incidents are reported at the workplace.

He explained: “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.

He added: “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.”