We are a funeral business. We have a casual worker who has hurt his back moving a coffin. He had one night in hospital as his back locked up. He is not available for work, but has no set hours, or contracted hours. Does the 7 day injury rule apply, and is this reportable or not? Any help appreciated. Thanks,

Reportable a) - if he was hospitalised for more than 24 hours b) - if he was 'unable to carry out NORMAL work duties' for more than 7 days! Note - it is phrased in that way for a very specific reason!! I have always taken a statement as part of the investigation process and if they state they could have returned to work then I would say not reportable.. if they are unable to work, reportable.

Ummmm. Others, including possibly the HSE, may disagree of course! It's neither true or untrue is it? And of course some people would recommend such an approach, again, possibly including the HSE. It is of course better to report what you need to report and don't report what you don't need to report. One the one hand, if you don't report something that you should have done, then there is a risk that you may have an intervention including the fee, and/or a prosecution (less likely) On the other hand, those organisations that use RIDDOR reports as a KPI, then there may well be some motivation to err on the side of 'under reporting' merely to satisfy 'targets'. Similarly those organisations who operate in a commercial environment where tendering for work is likely to require declaration of the number of reports during PQQ, then again there may be some motivation to under report. Overall though, and on balance, if you are in doubt and can't get any sense out of the HSE or someone else, then I personally don't think that it is unreasonable to make the report; it is an individual decision.

Really? funeral businesses we work with are working really hard to use mechanical lifting and avoid hazardous handling! it can be done.

Couldn't agree more. +1 for this too. It's almost showing a level of incompetence to incorrectly report RIDDORs in all but the most complex circumstances. @ the OP - a little defeatist? It would be worthwhile you identifying the costs of the bad backs (compensation claims no doubt, repsective insurance premiums etc.) and thinking of taking proactive steps to prevent these from occurring?