Consultation Opens On RIDDOR Changes
The Health and Safety Executive at its board meeting on 15th December, agreed a plan for the publication of consultation documents on proposed changes to the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR).
In his report on health and safety, Lord Young recommended that RIDDOR be amended 'by extending to seven days the period before an injury or accident needs to be reported'. In line with commitments made in the Government's formal response to the report - HSE will open a three month consultation in January 2011.
Under current rules when an employee is absent from work for more than three days following an incident or injury at work, employers are required to report the incident to the relevant enforcing authority - either HSE or the local council.
The proposed amendment increases this 'over three day' period to over seven consecutive days. This change would align the incident reporting threshold with that for obtaining a 'fit note' from a GP for sickness absence, and would ensure that someone who has suffered a reportable injury has had a professional medical assessment.
However, this is not seen as a benign exercise by the Government.
TUC Risks has headlined this news as:
"Government Bid To Undermine Injury Reporting" in its January 8th issue. It states: "The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is to consult on measures to dramatically reduce injury reporting requirements on firms. The move, agreed at the 15 December 2010 HSE board meeting, is in direct response to a recommendation in Lord Young's review of health and safety, which was accepted in its entirety by David Cameron's government. Tory peer Lord Young recommended that RIDDOR be amended 'by extending to seven days the period before an injury or accident needs to be reported."
HSE Chair Judith Hackitt said in a December press release;
"The Board discussed the proposals at length, and asked for some additional work to be done prior to the launch of the consultation in January.
Whilst there will be some obvious advantages in reducing the reporting requirements on business, there will be other factors which need to be taken into account. We hope that interested parties will use the consultation exercise to provide the range of perspectives we need to consider in order for us to advise the Government appropriately."
Hazards Campaign coordinator Hilda Palmer said equating improvements with deregulation was one of a number of 'mindbogglingly stupid' statements in the paper. 'HSE's role is not to blindly follow government deregulatory diktats to remove non-existent burdens on business,' she said. 'HSE's role should be to defend safety against damaging deregulatory proposals and to represent the interests of those who would face increased risks at work, not to try and find ways to circumvent basic legal protections required Europe-wide.'
European laws stipulate all injuries requiring more than three days off work should be reported.
The consultation paper will be published on Monday 17 January 2011.
The deadline for responses will be 11 April 2011. HSE will then consider the responses, and expects to be in a position to submit recommendations to the Secretary of State by the end of May.
Source: HSE / TUC Risks
