Oh lord, I would, it happended in the workplace and was cause by work related stress.

Very tricky. Personally I do not think I would report initially however there are issues about supervision or lack of it, the person's mental health, the root cause of the why this happened. So I would wait for the result of the initial investigation before reporting or not. When you have the initial result you can make your assessment and report if required at the earliest opportunity having had to wait for the investigation result.

I don't normally reply to RIDDOR cases as my normal opinion is if in work no matter what the circumstances then its reportable...... However come on... It is not an accident, he deliberately punched a wall what outcome did he expect?? So in my opinion, not an accident not reportable and as my mum told me many, many times "self inflicted injury"

Am I missing the point here? He was at work, was doing an activity that he got annoyed with, and lashed out, just so happened to be with a wall and that he got injured. Had the task been assessed? Is it repetative, mundane, lone working, other external personal issues affecting his working life etc. I would report it, it happened at work. And I understand it was not as a result of his activity directly, but was agravated by the task. Is he or has he been out of his normal duties for more that 3 days?

I personally would report it as an injury that happended at work purely for a 'paper trail record'. As a previous post suggests, there could be an underlying work related cause as to why he punched a wall. Should he make a claim in the future for any reason, you may be asked if this injury was reported correctly. If the report is not necessary, then the 'RIDDOR people' will reject it... no harm done.

I don't believe this is reportable. Do not have the new RIDDOR guidance book yet, but cannot see this will have changed. The guidance on act's of physical violence are very clear. It has to be 'Non-consensual" for a start so and arise out of the work activity. This fails for me on both counts. Agree with investigating to see why, stress may be an issue but not reportable.

What would the two plumbers say?

DP - No, not at all; the "reason" why he punched the wall will invariably have one or more attributable factors, the skill of the assessment is determine what those factors are. In detailing those factors you will reach a point where a decision is required (reportable or not) and work related stress actions/reactions are very much more in the spotlight these days. An assessor could determine (subjective) that it is reportable where a connection is proven. Another assessor could determine (also subjective) that there is no "reason" for punching the wall, this conduct is not acceptable under any conditon/s. RIDDOR will happily accept reports and de-escalate where they feel the report was inappropriate, prudent to report in the first place would be their stance, it is their stance, one of my reports was de-escalated. I have to say, I think that if it were I assessing, I would be more inclined to acknowledge contributory factors whilst declining to find RIDDOR applicability, I do not find punching a wall acceptable behaviour, I think that it would breech workplace conduct protocols, I also acknowledge the psychology inherent in work place stress and the moves to have that identified. Once acknowledged and identified, the employer can be guided towards putting in place measures to assess and control, to de-escalate situations, to help the workforce identify stress conditions and how to deal with them; this is huge in America at the moment, and definitely heading our way. Happy to discuss it though; it's good to talk.

Velonti non fit injuria ?

Is the wall ok

This is from Q and A section on the HSE website concerning RIDDOR. Q Do I need to report suicide and self-harm? A No. Suicides and cases of self-harm (except on a relevant transport system such as a railway) are not reportable as there is no accident from which the death or injury results. Local/internal reporting yes, RIDDOR no.

Injured while committing an act of vandalism = not RIDDOR (Unless for some bizarre reason punching walls is part of the job you pay him to do). Yes, he punched the wall because he was frustrated at a workplace activity - but we all get frustrated at work sometimes and we don't go round punching things. I would be finding out why he got so stressed - as others have suggested, poor training for the task? Equipment failure? Perceived management failings? But on the evidence presented, the disconnect between the work activity and the mechanism of injury is too great for this to be RIDDOR.