We had a incident take place on Monday of last week which resulted in one of our employees cutting his finger. The IP was given first aid on site and attended local GP surgery immediately after the incident to have the wound cleaned/dressed and then returned to work with no apparent issues. The IP had to return to the GP Surgery on Wednesday to have the wound checked where it was found to have developed an infection as it had not been cleaned properly. On Friday (4 days after the initial incident not including the day the incident occurred) the IP was admitted to hospital to have the wound cleaned under general anaesthetic and has been off work since. They are scheduled to return to work on Wednesday although at present we believe this is likely to be on light duties. In the context of RIDDOR, when would I start counting the 7 days from to see if it becomes reportable (at the moment I suspect it will)? The day they had surgery (Friday), today (this was the first scheduled day to work since) or the day after the surgery (Saturday) taking into account days in which they do not normally work/rest days. My own feeling is that we should count from Friday. This is the first time I've had to deal with RIDDOR since coming into a stand alone role so I'm looking for some re-assurance/guidance. Many thanks in advance.

Would this still be a RIDDOR? as the infection (and time off from work) was not a result of the accident but rather the treatment given?

Thanks Invictus but the absence didn't commence immediatly after the accident so that doesn't apply and I'm unsure when I should start counting from.

Yes the individual was at work as normal Tuesday, Wednesday (had an hour off to attend follow up appointment with nurse) and Thursday and carried out normal duties.

Yes investigation has been done and report updated this morning to include latest information.

andy2305b that's the line I was going along

Following Mr Fibble's post above, I've done a little bit of digging in the RIDDOR regulations and have found this within Regulation 14(1) - Restrictions on the application of regulations 4 to 10 - Does anyone think that this would apply in our circumstances? "Where the injury or death of a person arises out of the conduct of any operation on, or any examination or other medical treatment of, that person (such operation, examination or other treatment being conducted by or under the supervision of a registered medical practitioner or a registered dentist), the requirements of regulations 4, 5, 6(1) and 12(1)(b) do not apply. "