Hi Aga

RIDDOR defines the "responsible person" as follows:

Responsible person

3.—(1) In these Regulations, the “responsible person” is— (a) in relation to an injury, death or dangerous occurrence reportable under regulation 4, 5, 6or 7 or recordable under regulation 12(1)(b) involving— (i) an employee, that employee’s employer; or (ii) a person not at work or a self-employed person, or in relation to any other dangerousoccurrence, the person who by means of their carrying on any undertaking was incontrol of the premises where the reportable or recordable incident happened, at thetime it happened; or
(b) in relation to a diagnosis reportable under regulation 8, 9 or 10 in respect of—
(i) an employee, that employee’s employer; or
(ii) a self-employed person, that self-employed person.
(2) Despite paragraph (1), in these Regulations the “responsible person” is—
(a) in relation to a mine, the manager of that mine;
(b) in relation to a closed tip, the owner of the mine with which that tip is associated;
(c) in relation to a quarry, the operator of that quarry;
(d) in relation to a dangerous occurrence—
(i) at a pipeline, the operator of that pipeline; or
(ii) at a well, the person appointed to organise and supervise the drilling of, and operations using, that well by any person granted a licence under section 3 of the etroleum Act 1998(19), or where no such person is appointed, that licensee; or
(e) except in relation to a diagnosis reportable under regulation 8, 9 or 10— (i) at an offshore installation, the duty holder for the purposes of the Offshore Installations and Pipeline Works (Management and Administration) Regulations 1995 (provided that for the purposes of this provision regulation 3(2)(c) of those Regulations is deemed not to apply); or (ii) in relation to a diving project, the diving contractor.

So, if this was onshore I would agree that it is up to you as the employer to do the reporting.

However, now time for you to delve out the Regulations in red font above!

PLUS if thrown off board a sea going vessel then there are maritime reporting regulations parallel to RIDDOR, which might or might not apply depending on where the vessel was.

Good luck, Peter

KM - actually VERY unlikely that the responsible person would be held to account.

A quick glance at the HSE's prosecutions and notices databases has:

1. No prosecutions under RIDDOR in the latest 12 month reporting period (which would take you to about 9 weeks ago).

2. 17 prosecution charges in the previous 9 years, involving 15 defendants (one having three charges under RIDDOR at the same time).

3. 3 Improvement Notices in the last 5 years (again taking you to about 9 weeks ago).

Didn't check but I would be surprised if much, if any, of this enforcement action was taken in isolation from prosecution charges for other offences or for Notices to be issued ONLY for RIDDOR.

So, in terms of prosecution cases, 1.5 defendants a year on average - these are VERY unlikely to have been for debatable scenarios.