Workplace accidents "are heavily under-reported"

A new study for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has found that most legally reportable workplace accidents, including major injuries, are not being reported.

Under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR), employers and anyone in control of work premises should report deaths, major injuries and any other injuries that result in three days or more being spent off work.

The HSE's own statistics suggest that only about 50% of accidents covered by RIDDOR are reported, but the new study puts the figure even lower at just 30%.

Researchers from the Royal Liverpool University Hospital found that "the main reason accidents were reported was time lost from work". Other reasons for reporting accidents under RIDDOR - because they involved major injuries, for example, or required those involved to spend at least four days on reduced duties - "were largely ignored".

Following the study's publication, USDAW shopworkers' union has issued its reps with guidance to ensure that accidents are properly reported and notified by members, workplace accidents are investigated and reps collect information relating to them.

USDAW safety officer Doug Russell told Workplace Report that the study "shows the scale of under-reporting and calls into question whether HSE is hitting its targets for health and safety improvements".

An investigation of reporting of workplace accidents under RIDDOR using the Merseyside Accident Information Model, can be downloaded from www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrpdf/rr528.pdf