We are a contractor working on a refurbishment site on behalf of a main / principal contractor. We have sub-contracted a commissioning company to commission the equipment we have installed on site and subsequently one of the commissioning engineers has had an accident which, as I understand could result in an over 3 day injury. Please could you confirm if my understanding is correct. Reading from the RIDDOR guidance it would be down to the main / principal contractor and the injured persons’ employer to report this incident. Many thanks in advance for all your replies.

From the HSE, they would confirm its the employer who should report the RIDDOR, in this case the sub-contractor who you employed to do the works. Cheers Philip

Alistair - If the self employed person is employed by the sub contractor, it would still be the sub contactor who reports it, not the principal contracor.

I can’t help but feel that you might be complicating the issue and question by the use of ‘contractor’, ‘sub-contractor’, ‘principal contractor’ etc. RIDDOR is pretty straightforward on this. If the injured person is an employee, then it is the employees, employer who is responsible for reporting, a reportable injury. If the IP is genuinely self employed, then it is the person in control of that site who is responsible for reporting, reportable injuries. I think you will arrive at the same answer but it would avoid any confusion and ambiguity for others.