Posted By Frank Cooper This is the extract from HSE31 (rev1) RIDDOR EXPLAINED, published by the HSE: "An over-three-day injury is one which is not major but results in the injured person being away from work or unable to do the full range of their normal duties for more than three days (including any days they wouldn’t normally be expected to work such as weekends, rest days or holidays) not counting the day of the injury itself." Fine so far! However, take the following scenario: EEE injured on a Thursday and goes home, is absent on Friday but returns to work on a Monday. Reportable? I have always believed so but I am meeting a lot of opposition to the idea, including from the HSE Incident Contact Centre! Opinions from esteemed colleagues would be welcomed. Frank Cooper

Posted By Kevin Drew It isn't reportable since it isn't greater than 3 days - it is 3 days not counting the day it happened. Kevin Drew

Posted By Frank Cooper John, If the IP was injured on a Wednesday and off work Thursday and Friday, returning on Monday I would have no problem in saying that such an incident was reportable. The argument arises with my scenario over what exactly constitutes "over three-days", which I had always assumed to be an absence of three consecutive periods of 24 hours i.e Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I have always considered the return to work on a Monday makes it reportable. Frank Cooper

Posted By John Webster Frank ...and I would say if injured Wednesday and back Monday, NOT reportable if would have been fit to resume work Saturday or Sunday had they been working days. So one of us is wrong on how to interpret rest days, but which is it? If we do not consider fitness to work for those rest days, i.e. we only look at the total number of days away from the workplace, then the over 3 day accident data are going to be exaggerated for accidents occuring Tuesdays and Wednesdays, which I am sure is not what RIDDOR intended.

Posted By Paul Devlin It would be easier if your company made it a rule as most do that the employee who is sick/injured etc must phone and let the employer know if they are returning to work. I would assume that most places are the same in that they count weekends in with an employees absence under their particular attendance procedure unless the employee calls on the friday and states that they will return on the monday. Therefore if the employee in question did not call to say they were fit for work then the saturday and sunday should count towards the absence and this would make it reportable.