The new Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 has now come into force. The HSE consulted on proposals for new, simplified regulations, based on recommendations in the Lofstedt report. Here is an overview of the main changes to the regulations, provided by Barbour EHS

The main changes to the RIDDOR Regulations are:

• A simplified and shortened list of specified reportable injuries (“major injuries”) to workers sustained as a result of a work-related accident.
• A clarified and shortened list of reportable dangerous occurrences (near-miss events).
• A simplified and significantly shortened list of reportable ill-health conditions inworkers (replacing 47 specified ill-health conditions with 8 categories of work related diseases).
• A simplified list of dangerous occurrences within the rail-sector, and removal of the requirement to report suicides on railways.

Summary of RIDDOR Changes.

The regulations have essentially been redrafted with some sections imported from the old regulations into the new structure. Even where requirements are very similar such as in the list of general dangerous occurrences there are subtle differences in wording.
In some cases the use of new words within the regulations will require clarification within the new guidance and it is hoped that this will not leave scope for misinterpretation.
Those with established policies on accident reporting or software tools will need to review their content before October 2013 to ensure continued correlation with the legal requirements.

Further reading