RIDDOR Accident Reporting Flashcards

What are the main purposes of RIDDOR from a national perspective?

Answer: To provide the HSE with statistics on workplace injuries and diseases, identify trends, target inspection resources and measure progress towards national safety targets

RIDDOR provides the HSE with national data on workplace accidents, diseases and dangerous occurrences. This data reveals trends, identifies high-risk sectors and activities, enables targeting of inspection and enforcement resources, and measures progress against national safety improvement targets.

What is the 'accident triangle' (Heinrich's triangle) and how does it relate to RIDDOR reporting?

Answer: For every major injury, there are many minor injuries and a much larger number of near misses; RIDDOR focuses on the top of the triangle but near-miss investigation addresses the base

Heinrich's (or Bird's) accident triangle describes the relationship between serious accidents, minor accidents and near misses. RIDDOR captures the most serious events, but investigating near misses (the bottom of the triangle) prevents the serious incidents at the top.

What must be done with RIDDOR records if the HSE requests to inspect them?

Answer: They must be produced immediately — the employer is legally required to make them available to HSE inspectors

RIDDOR records must be kept for at least 3 years and must be made available to HSE inspectors on request. Failing to keep or produce records is a breach of RIDDOR and can result in prosecution.

What is a 'lost time injury' (LTI) in the context of construction site safety monitoring?

Answer: Any work-related injury that results in at least one day of lost work time beyond the day of the injury

A lost time injury (LTI) is any work-related injury that prevents the worker from returning to their normal duties on the next working day. LTI rates are widely used as a performance indicator in construction, capturing incidents above those requiring only first aid.

What is the accident frequency rate (AFR) and how is it used on construction sites?

Answer: The number of accidents per 100,000 (or 1,000,000) hours worked; used to compare safety performance across projects, companies and time periods

The Accident Frequency Rate (AFR) normalises accident data per hours worked, allowing meaningful comparison between sites of different sizes and across time periods. It is a standard KPI in construction and is used to benchmark performance.

What action should be taken if a worker develops symptoms of an occupational disease that may be related to their work on site?

Answer: Refer the worker to occupational health for assessment, adjust their duties to reduce exposure, investigate the workplace exposure and report to management

When occupational disease symptoms arise, early action is essential: refer to occupational health for assessment, adjust duties to minimise further exposure, investigate the nature and level of workplace exposure, notify management and, when a doctor's diagnosis confirms a RIDDOR-reportable disease, make the required report.