Posted By Richard Mathews Ladies and Gentlemen The scenario is as follows: A man comes out of a public house on a Saturday evening (a fine dry day) crosses a road and enters a train station through the automatic doors. He walks across the de-wetting mat and steps onto the anti-slip tiles, which are clean and dry, he immediately slips and lands with his trailing leg underneath him. The staff at the station go to his assistance and the man says that he thinks he has broken his ankle. The staff ask if he wants an ambulance, which he declines, eventually they have him sitting in a chair and after a couple of minutes he asks to be assisted to his feet to see if he can walk, which they do. The man walks around for few minutes and says that he doesn’t think that his ankle is broken as he can walk OK, he then walks back across the road and back into the pub. Two days later the station manager receives a telephone call from the man saying that his ankle is in fact broken. Is this now RIDDOR reportable? Over to you. Regards, Richard

Posted By Rob T A difficult one but I'd probably say not. Mainly because you don't know where he "broke" his ankle if it actually is. He may have fallen over again at a later stage (maybe at closing time!). If there was no obvious defect to the premises this may also be a negating factor. I presume sonny-me-lad wants to put in for "compensayshun innit"? I think the fact that he was able to walk unaided and refused the ambulance will add weight to the argument against. Having seen many broken ankles whilst playing rugby, I can honestly say that I've never seen anyone get up and walk around after - even with just a hairline fracture (although maybe they were just wimps?). Just a point of view.

Posted By Heather Collins Beat me to it Brian! Clearly not reportable. However I would strongly suggest that they write down whatever detail they can in their accident book, along with the statement about the floor being dry and clean, etc and the names of any witnesses in preparation for the inevitable no-win no fee try-on. Heather The artist formerly known as Heather Aston

Posted By Paul Leadbetter Congrats, Heather, you kept that quiet! Paul

Posted By Michael Hayward No - if the guy was a "member of the public" therefore a section 3 HASWA responsibility. RIDDOR states that a section 3 accident is only reportable if the person is "taken directly to hospital, by whatever means and receives treatment"