Posted By MICHAEL T We have an engineer who has not reported an accident through the normal channels but has left a recorded message on his supervisor's mobile with brief details (hurt back lifting X at Y). He had the accident on Tuesday and has not been in since. He is due to go on holiday on Monday, so I very much doubt that we will see him tomorrow. We cannot contact him on his mobile. He would not normally work weekends. Do I assume that he has exceeded his 3 days? By the time he returns from holiday I will have exceeded my 10 days for reporting under RIDDOR. Any advice please. Regards Mike

Posted By holmezy Michael, the employee has reported the accident. That is his obligation fulfilled. It may be Company policy to fill a form in etc, however, I would still treat this as an accident. If he doesnt report back before the +3 dys, then its reportable to the relevant authorities. You can always investigate it when he returns or as the previous poster says, pay him a visit (might cause him to sweat a bit if he planned on doing a bit of last minute shopping?) On a more sceptical note, I'd check his absent records to see if there is a trend of him having "incidents" or illness' prior to going on holiday? Holmezy pedigree anyone...

Posted By MickN Michael, The policy for the construction industry (my experience) is that the injured party MUST report the injury to his supervisor/manager/etc before leaving the site/premises. This is done to ensure that we can investigate and document incidents quickly (preventative actions). One of the concerns I have regarding people reporting incidents after they have gone home is the possibility of spurious injury claims. Discuss the incident with your manager to decide on what to do next. The individual is not contactable and this does not help. Perhaps the MD could call around to his house! He answer the phone next time eh? Bottom line: Report as worst case if you have to (in consultation with your managers), you can ammend later if different. Mick

Posted By Clive Lowery Michael, Do some investigative work first then pay a visit before he goes away. I had a case similar to this a few years back with a different employer. I went through his attendance records and noted he was off sick following an incident at work a couple of days before he went on holiday every year. Went to visit him at home before he went on his hols and suprise suprise he was not there, neighbour said he left to go on holiday the day of his supposed accident. Passed the info onto the insurance company as he had already made a previous claim and it turned out he had been doing the same thing for years! Me, I didn't even get a thank you from the MD etc just loads of grief from his manager. Good luck Clive

Posted By Brian Hagyard If you look at the guide to RIDDOR it does acknowledge that there may be times when "within 10 days" will not be practical - if you really cannot establish if it reportable before the employee goes on holiday, wait for him to return and if it was reportable do so and explain the delay in the comments section.

Posted By A Campbell Ahhhh I remember in my good old offshore days trying to put the argument across to the management. IP has injury day or 2 before due home, flies off for medical treatment - informed not fit to return - go to own GP. By this time he's on his 'leave time' - no LTI they say with a sigh of relief..... my argument tended to fall on deaf ears suffice to say. Glad it's all over now I have both feet on terra firma!