Posted By Tumbleweed Hello, An employee has recently taken an overdose (attempted to take his life) whilst at work. He has been admitted to hospital for more than 24hrs. Is this likely to fall under RIDDOR? It is not directly related to a failure in work practices or workplace conditions but did occur within the workplace. I feel that it is a sensitive issue and shouldn't involve unnecessary outside involvement. However, we still need to ensure compliance with the regulations. Can anyone advise whether this would be deemed reportable under RIDDOR. Thanks Tumbleweed

Posted By Swis Not reportable (unless the over dose was a direct result of work related stress etc :D)

Posted By Peter Moran The fact that the IP chose to self-inflict in the workplace rather than elsewhere should be of great concern in this case and has other implications. With that in mind I feel should be formally reported under the spirit of RIDDOR especially as the IP has been hospitalised for this period. If in doubt report it..that's the HSE's advice I believe...

Posted By martinw May not be - after all the person has not obviously broken any laws. Tumbleweed, this does have further implications if(?) the person comes back to work. Tricky risk assessment to say the least.

Posted By martinw A case which I know of. My friend is an Operating Theatre Manager at a private health company - you can guess the one. One of the anaesthetists was unknown to colleagues using the drugs used on patients. He was supposed to be correctly disposing of hypodermics used to put the patient 'under' but before he did this, he injected himself in private with anything left in the syringes which had not gone into the patient. He was found OD in the toilets. The Department of Health descended like a biblical plague. Other involved agencies flew in like avenging angels. But it was one of those situations where all that was in place was correct. To cut a long story short, a trusted senior person was secretly breaking the rules and there was no evidence of any wrong doing until after the fact. Sorry to hijack this but it is to make the point that there was almost definitely nothing you could have done to stop this happening in the first place, and also that the effects can have far reaching impacts. In your case, will the person's colleagues have reservations about working with him again? Do you feel able to trust him again? I know that these are very difficult things to ask but they may be asked by his colleagues, so you may need to think about them. I have dealt with people who have found attempted and successful suicide victims on a number of occasions, and the impacts on them differed greatly. It is not only the suicide attempter who may need TLC.

Posted By martinw Pity ignorance isn't

Posted By D H If an ambulance was called to the worksite for taking the person to hospital - the Police turn up as a metter of routine to assess if there was any criminal intent. They will follow up with the accident victim and can instigate investigations if they feel what happened was wrong. Dave