Health and safety professionals are largely in favour of Lord Young’s proposals to change the way work-related injuries are reported.
A survey of its members by the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) found that 65 per cent support the extension of the period for which an injured person must be off work before it has to be reported to the HSE under RIDDOR 1995.
Currently, under regulation 3(2), duty-holders are required to report injuries that lead to a worker being incapacitated for work for three consecutive days. In the consultation on amending the 1995 Regulations, which ended yesterday (9 May), it was proposed to extend this period to seven consecutive days.
In its response to the consultation, IOSH calls on the Government to link reporting to the ‘fit note’ to trigger action and save bosses time by only requiring reports for incapacity of more than seven days. According to the Institution, this would:
