Could you give me your opinions please on the following. 60 year old person bends down to pick up a small object from the floor and feels a twinge in his back which he reports. Carries on working. 7 days later goes off sick with lower back pain and is off for 3 weeks. Would you report this or not.

Based on what you've said, maybe: I'd need to know more about the employee. 1) Does he have a history of back problems? What caused the twinge when he bent over might not be what sparked off the latest problem - back pain is cyclical and this current sick period might have been coming anyway. 2) What did the employee do in the intervening seven days? I've had people complain of serious back pain on a Monday, which they attributed to manual handling on Friday. With a bit of probing, turns out they spent the weekend laying a new patio at home... 3) Did the pain gradually get worse through the seven days as Sean is inferring, or was he fine on some of the intervening days? If it was twinge in back - feel fine for six and a half days - off with severe pain, I'd be reluctant to link the two. I'm not saying this isn't a RIDDOR, or that the employee is trying it on: Just that without more detail we can't tell. And yes, if you're confident the current back pain is due to the workplace incident, it's reportable.

I normally wouldn't hesitate to report anything that I thought should be a RIDDOR and I probably will report this one. It's just a couple of things that don't sit right. There was no lifting involved, the IP just bent slightly and felt a twinge in his back. He carried on working for a couple of days then went on his rest period (4 on 4 off shifts). He reported in sick on the day he was due to start his next set of shifts. He has been involved in labouring virtually the whole of his working life without any problems and as I said, in this instance there was no lifting or handling involved at all. He just stooped slightly. It seems to me that sometimes we forget what RIDDOR is all about and report everything without really considering the circumstances. Just because an injury occurs in a certain venue doesn't automatically make it a workplace accident. Had, God forbid, the IP had a heart attack while bending to pick something up, would that have been classed as reportable. I don't think so.

I think the fact that he reports the twinge at the time of the incident might be the overiding factor. So in essence the back pain could have been caused by the twinge. If he had not reported it then I agree not a RIDDOR, but in this case I believe I would count this as a RIDDOR. Jurgen

Ahh, I love a good moot. Investigate and record in case the poor old so and so is off for some time and decides to "no win, no fee". Pay for him to go to a Chiropractor, too. Won't cost a lot, will do him ten times as much good as a GP and can always be used as evidence that you looked after him. Probably best to report too, for the same reason, but this isn't what RIDDOR was meant for. Discuss: "Rising accident statistics are a result of increased reporting and particularly the reporting of trivial incidents." Sorry to be cynical but I have a hatful of "no win no fees" on my desk. Some of them aren't even my employees, just slinging the old jointly and severally liable mud to see if some will stick. Paul

We've had a claim put in for a non RIDDOR accident. HSE inspector said we should have reported it but the employee went home for half a day, and it's not a RIDDOR. He seemed to be of the opinion it would cover us better in case. Accident report he filled out compared to what he is claiming is different, along the same lines but now he no longer works here it seems to have become more serious than it was. Claim culture in this country is getting to be like the US.