We had an employee who says they had an accident at work on Friday morning.  They dropped a piece of shelving onto their toe.  The person did not report the incident or seek medical attention and remained at work for the duration of their shift.  The facility is not open and nobody works weekends.  The first we were made aware was on Monday when the employee said they had injured themselves and that the pain had got so bad over the weekend that they attended a medical centre on Monday and they had a broken toe.  They were not fully signed off and the fitness note said they may be fit to work with altered hours, amended duties etc.  The role the employee performs could have been performed with a broken toe however his supervisor reacted by allowing the person to take the week off.  The Monday they advised us was their first working day after the incident.  They returned to work the following Monday and continued to work as normal.

I know the incident is not reportable due to the broken toe, but is the 7 day rule applicable.  So two questions really;

1) Excluding the Friday of the injury, is Day 1 the first Saturday or the Monday they notified us? 

2)  Also given they could have performed their work but were allowed the normal week off, the 7th day was the Friday that week.  Do the days stop when they returned to work or when they were able to work eg any day that week or the 2nd weekend.

I hope I've explained the timelines correctly and do not have an issue with the fact an accident was not evidenced.  I just need advice on the days?  

Thanks for the comments so far.

The fit note says; "you may be fit for work taking into account the following advice";

1)A phased return to work  2) Amended Duties  3) Altered Hours 4) Workplace adaptations.

I've not asked the employee what they told the doctor they did but he carrried on doing his normal duties for 5 hours after the accident, and there is no reason why they cant do their normal duties with a broken to.

Neither of the notes on the doctors form need to apply.

Accident on the Friday

The time starts from the following day ie the Saturday (so the first Saturday in the period).

They had Monday to Friday off

They returned the next Monday

They need to be asked if they had been asked to work on the second Saturday in the period ( ie day 8) could they have carried out their full duties ?

If they say yes then record and get them to countersign what they said and it is then not reportable, if they say “No” then it is. Do not lean on them, a witness may be good.

If they did not come back to work since the Friday then absence Saturday - Monday = 9 days so is reportable