Hello all, 

This one might be slight left field, but a query in regards to animal rehoming charities and their volunteers/advisors, and any responsibilities they may have under RIDDOR or something equivalent.  

Scenario: a rescue greyhound was placed on trial with a family, with the assurance that it had been exposed in some degree to cats, and that it was highly probable that the dog would be fine with further exposure and training with cats.  

Incident: The dog showed extreme prey behaviour and within a matter of hours had attacked and seriously injured the family's cat, and also bite puncture wounds from the dog to one of the family members as they tried to intervene. The family member had to attend A&E where they were given two courses of antibiotics and strong painkillers, as they had lost the use of their left arm through swelling and pain.  

Question: Can anyone advise if this is reportable by the charity, under RIDDOR or some other reporting mechanism?   As far as I am aware, the charity's volunteers and advisors are all unpaid and the charity has no paid employees.  

Many thanks in advance for any help and advice, 

With best regards,

GW

Well, it's not going to be RIDDOR, as it is nothing to do with Health & Safety at Work.

I'm interested in the inference that there should be an "equivalent" to RIDDOR for charities.  I'm actually wondering why there should be.

Call me an old cynic, but the bit about the poor old cat (vet's bills) and the injury (loss of earnings) make me think that rather than look for a RIDDOR equivalent, the people involved might just go straight to the no claim/no fee cowboys