Good morning Please can someone advise me with regards to RIDDOR classifications. We had an employee fall down a flight of stairs whilst carrying a chair from one office to another - there were no defects with the stairs. As this employee was absent for more than 7 days it has been reported as a RIDDOR incident and is being investigated appropriately. The manager who reported it online classifiied it as a 'Fall from Height' within the options given on the on-line RIDDOR report. I disagree with this classification as I think it's more a 'slip, trip or fall'. I am working from the fact that in the Working at Height Regulations 2005 -working at height does not include a set of stairs within a permanent building. Am I confusing 2 separate issues here? Is a 'Fall from Height' the correct classfication for this incident? Semantically speaking it is a fall from height but I am looking more towards the WoH Regs. When I google 'Falls from Height' it takes me immediately to the Working at Height page of the HSE internet pages just to confuse me even more! Many thanks for your assistance

I would also suggest a S, T or F but it doesn't really make any odds. Does it? It's been reported, presumably the narrative expands on the situation. Job done. I wouldn't lose any sleep over it

Hi Robert from the Working at height regulations " What is ‘work at height’? Regulation 2 5 A place is ‘at height’ if (unless these Regulations are followed) a person could be injured falling from it, even if it is at or below ground level. 6 ‘Work’ includes moving around at a place of work (except by a staircase in a permanent workplace) but not travel to or from a place of work. For instance, a sales assistant on a stepladder would be working at height, but we would not be inclined to apply the Regulations to a mounted police officer on patrol. So therfore i would say iy is not falling from height regards Dave

Thank you very much to Canopener, Dave and Claire for your responses. I do understand the WoH regs and what is deemed as working at height and I know that a flight of stairs in a permanent building is not working at height :) However, the category of 'slip, trip, fall same level' is described on the RIDDOR form as 'When the injured person slips, trips, or falls on the same level, in relation to their position before it happened e.g. where the hazard is a wet surface, dry surface, object, obstruction or uneven floor.' Whereas 'Fall from height' is described on the form as 'A fall to a lower level than before the accident – e.g. down stairs or steps, into a trench, off a ladder', which appears to more accurately describe the accident. So going on this the RIDDOR form appears to say that this incident where the IP has fallen down a flight of stairs is categorised as a fall from height. Saying all that (!) I still agree that this incident is a slip, trip or fall but I'm interested in the fact that the RIDDOR categories on the on-line form seem to contradict the circumstances of this particular incident.