Recently I was delivering a presentation to the board and senior management regarding how the Company had performed over the last year. The Company had performed well, recording a 24% reduction in minor injuries following implementation of new controls.

I then mentioned that we had recently had two dangerous occurrences, one of which had not reported. I emphasised that all dangerous occurrences must be reported, documented and thoroughly investigated and notified etc. During this discussion it was argued as to what should be reported with a senior member stating “we have a dangerous occurrence every day!”. Something I disagree with.

Some of the Senior Management are genuinely concerned for their future, their liberty etc.

What are your thoughts?

I think you need to find out what that person thinks qualifies as a dangerous occurrence, and what you think qualifies as a dangerous occurrence, and work out if you're actually talking about the same thing.

I had someone recently who maintained that we had had half a dozen RIDDOR reportable events on one of our sites in the last year. Since my understanding was that we had never had a RIDDOR on that site in the 30-ish years it has been operating (it's a smallish office - I'm not claiming this is a remarkable record), I did some digging. This person had decided that everything logged as a 'near miss' in our systems was was an occurrence that was potentially dangerous, and that RIDDOR required you to report dangerous occurrences, and further that the company-wide records were the records for that site. Obviously, they were not a safety person, and some training did ensue, but it's possible you have a similar understanding breakdown?

Agree with achrn. Use of the phrase dangerous occurrence has a particular meaning to H&S professionals outside of what it may mean to others. My guess is your manager's idea of dangerous occurrence would be closer to what I would call a near miss and he didn't understand what you were telling him about the more precise meaning in RIDDOR. I can easily believe that a poorly controlled site could have near misses daily.

Of course your manager may have understood you perfectly, in which case you have a problem! Ultimately he is only making your point for you though. Reporting safety concerns of any type, regardless of what you call them, is essential if an organisation is to manage H&S effectively, let alone being able to comply with RIDDOR.

I shall now stop preaching to the choir.

The interpretation of a Near Miss and Dangerous Occurrence relating to our work activities was explained and debated at length.

I hope that the Management know the difference between a RIDDOR Dangerous Occurrence and a "Near Miss" ??