New rules on reporting accidents and injuries in the workplace come into effect on Tuesday (October 1st).
The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (Riddor) 2013 take the place of Riddor guidelines set in 1995 and 2012.
Among the main changes and amendments to the new laws that apply from October 1 is a classification change from ‘major injuries’ to a more concise list of ‘specified injuries’.
There will be eight categories of work-related illnesses that must be reported, rather than 47 kinds of industrial diseases and firms will have to report fewer types of ‘dangerous occurrences’.
The changes do not affect the need to report deaths, accidents to members of the public and injuries that prevent employees from doing their usual tasks for more than a full week.
According to the Health and Safety Executive, business could save as much as £5.9 million over the next decade as it believes fewer incidents will need to be reported and investigated.
Copyright Press Association 2013