HSE Wants to Change How Your Workplace Accident Gets Reported. Here Is What the RIDDOR Consultation Means for Your Claim.
David Healey, Senior Solicitor, April 2026
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
The HSE has opened a consultation to overhaul RIDDOR, the regulations that require employers to report workplace injuries in England and Wales. Here is what that means for anyone who has been hurt at work.
RIDDOR requires employers to report certain workplace injuries to the HSE. Failure to report does not prevent an injured worker from making a personal injury claim.
The consultation opened on 7 April 2026 and closes on 30 June 2026. It is the first proposed overhaul of these regulations since 2013.
Proposed changes include clarifying what counts as a “work-related” injury, adding new reportable diseases, and broadening who can diagnose occupational conditions.
Whether or not your employer reported your accident under RIDDOR, the right to claim compensation is a separate legal question based on employer negligence.
The regulations that tell your employer when to report a workplace accident have not been updated in 13 years. On 7 April 2026, the Health and Safety Executive opened a public consultation to change that.
RIDDOR. The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013. Four syllables that most people who get hurt at work never hear.
But these regulations sit behind one of the questions injured workers ask most often: “My employer didn’t report my accident. Does that mean I can’t claim?”
The short answer is no. Your right to claim compensation has nothing to do with whether your employer filed a RIDDOR report.
But the longer answer matters too. Because what RIDDOR requires, what it is about to change, and what your employer actually did after your accident all tell a story. And that story can strengthen your claim.
I Got Hurt at Work and Nobody Reported It. What Is RIDDOR and Why Should I Care?
RIDDOR stands for the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013. It is a set of rules that place a legal duty on employers to report certain types of workplace incident to the HSE.
Not every injury triggers a report. A paper cut does not. A broken bone does.
The types of injury that must be reported include fractures (other than to fingers, thumbs or toes), amputations, any injury that results in the worker being unable to do their normal duties for more than seven consecutive days, and injuries that require hospital admission.
Certain occupational diseases must also be reported, along with dangerous occurrences where something went seriously wrong even if nobody was hurt.
When your employer reports under RIDDOR, it creates an official record with the HSE. That record confirms the date, location, nature of the injury, and the circumstances.
It is one piece of evidence. But it is not the only piece, and its absence does not close the door on your claim.
The HSE Wants to Change These Rules. What Are They Proposing?
The consultation launched on 7 April 2026 and closes on 30 June 2026. It is open to employers, workers, health practitioners, and anyone affected by workplace injury reporting. The HSE has described it as a “significant opportunity” to modernise how work-related injuries, ill health, and dangerous occurrences are reported.
The proposals cover both the law itself and the practical process of reporting. Here is what the HSE is consulting on.
A Detail That Often Gets Missed
An employer who fails to report a RIDDOR-qualifying injury has not just broken a reporting rule. They have created a second piece of evidence: evidence that they did not take the injury seriously. In a personal injury claim, the employer’s response in the days after an accident matters. If they failed to report when the law required them to, that failure becomes part of the picture a court sees. It does not prove negligence on its own. But combined with other failures (missing risk assessments, no training records, a broken cleaning schedule), it builds a pattern. The absence of the report tells its own story.
My Employer Didn’t Report My Accident. Does That Wreck My Claim?
No. This is the false belief that stops people from picking up the phone.
Your right to claim compensation for a workplace injury is based on your employer’s negligence under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and supporting regulations. It is not based on whether they filed a RIDDOR form.
A RIDDOR report is a reporting obligation. A personal injury claim is a separate legal action. The two overlap in subject matter but they follow different paths.
You can make a successful claim with no RIDDOR report on file. You can also have a RIDDOR report on file and still lose a claim if negligence cannot be established.
What matters in a personal injury claim is whether your employer breached their duty of care. Did they carry out a proper risk assessment? Did they provide adequate training?
Was the equipment maintained? Was the floor safe?
These are the questions that determine whether you have a claim. Not whether your employer ticked a box on the HSE’s online reporting form.
“The question is never whether your employer reported the accident. The question is whether they caused it. If they failed to keep you safe, you have a claim. The paperwork they did or didn’t file afterwards is a detail, not a barrier.”
David Healey, Senior Solicitor
But If There Is a RIDDOR Report, Does That Help My Case?
It can. A RIDDOR report is a contemporaneous record. It records the date, the nature of the injury, and the employer’s own account of what happened.
That account was given at a time when the employer was not yet thinking about a compensation claim. It was given because the law required it. That makes it harder for the employer to change their story later.
If the RIDDOR report describes the accident one way and the employer’s defence to your claim describes it another way, that inconsistency is something a court will notice. Records created in the ordinary course of business carry weight precisely because they were not created to support a legal argument.
And if no RIDDOR report exists when one should have been filed, that tells its own story too. An employer who did not report a fracture or an amputation is an employer who was not following their legal obligations. That pattern of non-compliance can be relevant to a court’s assessment of their overall approach to safety.
FOR H&S OFFICERS AND HR MANAGERS
The RIDDOR consultation is directly relevant to anyone responsible for workplace injury reporting. The proposals to clarify “work-related” and “injury” could change what your organisation is required to report. The proposed expansion of reportable dangerous occurrences could increase your reporting volume. And the broadening of who can diagnose reportable occupational diseases means occupational health nurses and other practitioners, not just GMC-registered doctors, could trigger a reporting obligation.
The consultation is open until 30 June 2026. Responses can be submitted via the HSE’s online survey at consultations.hse.gov.uk. If you are a duty holder, self-employed, or in control of work premises, the HSE is specifically encouraging you to respond.
Rachael Radway, Deputy Director of Regulation at the HSE, has stated that RIDDOR reporting is “central to how we identify emerging risk, target regulatory activity and contribute to the evidence base for workplace health and safety.”
What Should I Actually Do If I’ve Been Hurt at Work?
Three steps, in this order.
Report the accident yourself
Report it in writing to your employer. Ask for it to be recorded in the accident book. If your employer has not filed a RIDDOR report and you believe your injury qualifies, you can report it to the HSE directly. The HSE accepts reports from injured workers, not just employers.
See a doctor and document everything
Get your injuries documented. Keep a record of any time you take off work, any treatment you receive, and any expenses you incur because of the injury. These records matter more to your claim than whether a RIDDOR form was filed.
Speak to a specialist personal injury solicitor
A specialist can assess whether your employer was negligent regardless of the RIDDOR position. The evidence that wins claims is not a tick box on a government form. It is the risk assessment your employer should have done, the training they should have provided, and the hazard they should have removed.
“My case was taken on even though another solicitor said I had no case, and thanks to Carter & Carter Solicitors I did win compensation for my injury at work.”
Mr Farrington
WHAT CARTER & CARTER CHARGES
10%
When your claim is settled
without court proceedings
(approximately 99% of claims do not proceed to a final court hearing)
25%
Only if court proceedings
become necessary
What Type of Workplace Accident Did You Have?
RIDDOR applies across every type of workplace injury. If you were hurt at work, find the guide that matches your situation.
RELATED GUIDES
Accident Report Forms: What Your Employer Must Record →
Employer Duty of Care Explained →
Winning Your Accident at Work Claim →
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David Healey is a Senior Solicitor at Carter & Carter Solicitors in Whaley Bridge, Derbyshire. Qualified in 2005, David has spent over 21 years helping people injured at work and in public places. Accident at work claims are one of the firm’s four specialist practice areas. Carter & Carter is one of very few firms in England and Wales to publish its fee structure upfront and to handle every claim personally at senior solicitor level from start to finish. More about Carter & Carter →