RIDDOR reporting software for UK businesses

What RIDDOR requires and why getting it wrong is costly

The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR) require employers to report certain workplace injuries, diseases and dangerous occurrences to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Specified injuries (fractures other than fingers and toes, amputations, crush injuries, loss of consciousness, and others) must be reported immediately. Over-7-day incapacitation injuries must be reported within 15 days. Deaths, and certain dangerous occurrences, must be reported without delay.

Failure to report a RIDDOR event is a criminal offence. Under-reporting is widespread in UK workplaces, and an HSE inspector who discovers an unreported RIDDOR event in your incident log will treat that failure seriously. The question is not just whether you reported but whether you made a considered, recorded decision at the time.

• Specified injuries: fractured bones (excluding fingers/toes/thumbs), amputations, any injury requiring in-patient hospital admission, loss of consciousness, and others — reportable immediately.
• Over-7-day incapacitation: where a worker is incapacitated for more than 7 consecutive days (not counting the day of the accident), reportable within 15 days.
• Occupational diseases: certain work-related conditions including carpal tunnel syndrome, occupational dermatitis and hand-arm vibration syndrome.
• Dangerous occurrences: specified near misses that could have caused death or serious injury — even if no one was hurt.
• Deaths: all deaths related to a workplace accident must be reported to the HSE immediately.

How RIDDOR screening works in Featherstone Safety Hub

Every incident recorded in Featherstone Safety Hub passes through a RIDDOR screening flow. You answer a structured set of questions about the nature of the incident and the outcome for the injured person, and the system maps your answers against the RIDDOR 2013 categories to indicate whether the incident is likely reportable, possibly reportable or unlikely to be reportable.

Your final decision — whether to report and why — is recorded alongside the incident with a timestamp. If you decide not to report, that decision and reasoning is preserved. This creates a defensible audit trail: if the HSE ever queries an incident, you can show not just what happened but that you actively assessed it against RIDDOR criteria and made a documented decision.

Over-7-day tracking and follow-up

One of the most commonly missed RIDDOR obligations is the over-7-day report. A worker is injured, returns to work after a few days, and then the 7-day threshold passes unnoticed. Featherstone Safety Hub flags incidents where the worker has been absent, prompting you to check whether the threshold has been met and triggering the 15-day reporting window if it has.

The incident register keeps all of this in one view, so nothing slips through. The 15-day deadline for over-7-day reports and the immediate-reporting obligation for specified injuries are both surfaced in the workflow.

Incident investigation records

Good RIDDOR management is not just about deciding whether to report — it is about investigating what happened, identifying root causes and recording remedial actions. Featherstone Safety Hub's incident record captures the full picture: what happened, who was involved, the immediate cause, the underlying factors, and what action is being taken, alongside the RIDDOR decision. This creates the investigation record that demonstrates the right response to an incident.