Rank: Forum user 
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Scenario:
Operative slips and injures his elbow/bicep, scratches and bruising, returns to work the same day and you receive no further complaints from the operative.
2 months later the operative comes to work and says that he recently went to hospital and they have told him he has cracked 2 bones in his elbow/arm area, but there is nothing they can do for him. Under RIDDOR this would be a classed as a major injury as a fracture includes a break, crack or chip.
However do you report the incident as RIDDOR??? Due to the length of the time since the initial incident, how can you confirm if the cracked bones are a result of the incident or if the operative injured himself carrying out an activity outside of work???
Do you report it as a RIDDOR as a precautionary measure???
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Rank: Super forum user 
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I would go on what the Dr's say.
How old are the fractures? If months - and IP claims issues started at point of incident, then you have to assume a link...
There is no time limit to have to report.
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Yes, I guess there is some degree of uncertainty. The scenario isn’t unprecedented and sometimes there is a ‘delay’ between an incident and an injury being ‘fully’ diagnosed, often because the IP has delayed getting medical advice.
If it is not unreasonable to assume that the injury might be related to the incident then you probably should report it but use part D to elaborate on the circumstances, the time delay etc and perhaps make the point that due to the time delay you cannot be certain that there was a causal link between the 2 (if that doesn’t appear to be contradictory)
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Rank: Super forum user
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A similar thing happened to us. A surveyor tripped over in the field. They suffered slight bruising and reported this to us. As he only took a half day off, this was not treated as a RIDDOR.
Six months later he tells us that he was going into hospital for treatment for his hip and that the doctor had said that the fall had “contributed” to having to have his hip replaced.
We bit the bullet and reported is as a RIDDOR. HSE were not interested and did not come along to investigate. The injured party put in a civil claim.
Ho Hum
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Rank: Forum user
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Is the IP attributing the break to the incident 2 months ago? If so, I would report. Dealt with similar in the past and our inspector agreed that it should be reported.
As teh-boy says, there is no time limit to reporting either.
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Some years ago in a previous job I asked HSE for advice on these lines; this was in the days when you could ring an actual Inspector with queries. We had a manager who fell while taking part in a garden party (she managed a residential home) and hurt her knee. Some three years later she was absent from work to have an operation on her knee, the injury requiring surgery was attributed by her GP and the orthopedic surgeon to the incident at the garden party. I was advised that this was reportable under RIDDOR,
John
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Rank: Forum user
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I'm in a quandary and going to 'hijack' this posting!!.
I have a member of staff who tripped over a hoover lead at work, continued for the rest of that day and the following but went sick 2 days later on the Friday. We are aware that the individual is planning to return to work on day 7!
Has a history of taking 'sickies'.
I'm tempted to report as RIDDOR despite having doubt about the legitimacy of the accident as the individual managed to work the following day.
As always, I'd be interested to gauge others opinions.
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Rank: Super forum user
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IanC9139 wrote:I'm in a quandary and going to 'hijack' this posting!!.
We are aware that the individual is planning to return to work on day 7!
Has a history of taking 'sickies'.
I'm tempted to report as RIDDOR despite having doubt about the legitimacy of the accident as the individual managed to work the following day.
As always, I'd be interested to gauge others opinions.
1) History of sickness has nothing to do with it - if they claim link - report 2) the regs read >7 days - so day 7 is not reportable...
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Rank: Super forum user
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Morning Ian,
I always report as I am informed; if the member of staff says that the time off was due to the injury, I would report even if I suspected they were taking some duvet days or time off for the World Cup or whatever. RIDDOR isn't about getting to the truth as such, it's about what people (and the medical profession) say. If HSE did investigate (and they won't) then you can voice your reservations about teh real causes for the lost time, and if you find that the time off was for reasons not connected to the accident you can always amend the RIDDOR report at a later date, HSE will let you do this,
John
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Rank: Forum user
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Hi John.
Unless it's a clear-cut case, I tend to hold off until I need to as I don't want to record 'nonsense' notifications on my period reports. If it is a legitimate notification, I don't have an issue. I hate wasting time!
Have advised the Line Manager that we will hold off until day 7 before making the notification which will give us a chance to see what we can find out - 'casual words causes....' etc - then, when making the report, ensure we add that there is an element of doubt in to the 'alleged' accident and what we have discovered. One of the benefits to the change from 3 to 7 day period.
This was recently discussed in a senior managers meeting as a 'sick rota' appears to be getting established among some staff, something we want to quash quickly.
Thanks for the advice.
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Rank: Forum user
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Hi Teh_Boy.
I've always held until what was day 4 and now day 8 before notifying unless it's a clear cut requirement.
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Rank: Super forum user
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Ian, fair enough, letting the dust settle before reporting is sound practice,
John
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