Rank: Forum user 
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Hi all
Looking for some guidance. So I do have a good understanding of RIDDOR but what if a staff member who has an accident (alleged), then waits 10 days before reporting. Then after asking them why they haven't reported it in the first place they get defensive, leave the meeting and say they are going to their doctor to get booked off. Subsequent checks on the equipment they used turns out the equipment is fine, the staff working with that individual say they never said anything to them about their injury and were not aware anything had happened.
my question: If this person is booked off for 7 days + would you still report as a RIDDOR?
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Rank: Super forum user 
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suggest you wait and see what the doctor writes (if the employee gets a note) to determine if there is a relationship between purported injury and absence
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Rank: Super forum user
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suggest you wait and see what the doctor writes (if the employee gets a note) to determine if there is a relationship between purported injury and absence
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Unfortunately the Dr will write home a note as all he or she has to go on is their word...carry out the investigation as you would normally and make sure the findings are recorded and shared with the employee and their representative...you can only report what you are aware of it is however an offence not to report...and for more than 7 days you have 15 days...don’t give the person and opportunity to use it as a point for claiming
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Rank: Super forum user 
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If I understand what you have said correctly then no, I don’t think it is not reportable, but see below. From what you state, the person has carried on working full duties for the last 10 days? If he now gets a note from the doctor and has time off. This means the causal link between the injury and time off seems to be broken, if he could work the last 10 days. Unless of course you feel due to the nature of the injury (which we don’t know) it would not be unreasonable for this time lag, so the link remains. Chris
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Rank: Super forum user
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Mhuirem Delayed symptoms following an accident are probably more common that usually imagined. My understanding is that e.g. rib fractures quite commonly flare up into pain some time later, or sometimes intermittently. We don't know what sort of business you are in nor whether you might need to disclose your RIDDOR stats in in prequalification to a potential client, but no sensible client is going to blacklist you for one over 7 day accident. Which leaves us two QQ: 1. Why are you concerned about reporting? Reporting is NOT an admission of liability. An "if in doubt, report policy" could be viewed as erring on the safe side. If your organisation does Safety by Numbers, then one extra number is bad for the metrics, so that is a reason to find any excuse NOT to report. 2. Then as already indicated there is the potential liability BUT ALSO potential for improvement (hopefully in reverse order). So, perhaps revisit your investigation, taking the narrative as stated by your employee and the facts as known, see whether they can fit together and if not consider the credibility of the narrative and draw your conclusions. The narrative may or may not throw up something that had been missed in the initial investigation. You may conclude that there is nothing to learn either as the incident was a genuine "accident" which could not have been prevented by means consistent with your legal duties, or as you can discount the narrative as not being credible. However, be careful that you do not translate minor discrepancies in the narrative (and the narratives of those working with your employee) as being indicative of lack of credibility. Witnesses are often very poor in recollection of what they think happened.
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 1 user thanked peter gotch for this useful post.
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Rank: Super forum user
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Oops first line of my post should read If I understand what you have said correctly then no, I don’t think it is reportable, but see below.
(I had double negative so removed the word "not") It would have been helpful if you had told us the injury claimed, ie a broken bone would be reportable regardless, but a twinge in the back formed over time not reportable at all. In all cases you need to investigate and make improvements where needed. I don't belive in reporting to be on safe side, though I know some people do. It either meets the conditions or not layed out in RIDDOR.
Chris
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Rank: Super forum user 
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It feels like we are getting back to normal with RIDDOR debates making a comeback!
The first thing to do is to investigate whether there was in fact an accident. Would the co-worker have witnessed it if it did occur?
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