IN Brief:
- HSE has launched a public consultation on proposed changes to RIDDOR.
- The package includes revised dangerous occurrences, updated occupational disease rules, and clearer definitions.
- Construction-relevant proposals include reporting around overturned plant, temporary works, and trench collapses.
The Health and Safety Executive has opened a public consultation on proposed changes to the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013, with reforms that would affect how incidents are recorded and reported across construction and other sectors.
The consultation includes legislative proposals to clarify definitions such as “work-related”, “injury”, and “routine work”, revise the lists of dangerous occurrences and occupational diseases, and broaden the range of registered health practitioners able to diagnose a reportable occupational disease. HSE is also seeking views on simplifying the online reporting form to reduce both under-reporting and over-reporting.
For construction, the more immediate interest lies in the treatment of dangerous occurrences. Trade coverage of the consultation points to proposed reporting requirements around overturned plant, falling objects in circumstances where they could cause a fatality, and structural collapses including roofs, ceilings, temporary works, and trench failures. That would bring the reporting framework closer to the risks encountered on live sites and in heavy civil works.
Rachael Radway, deputy director of regulation at HSE, said RIDDOR reporting remains central to how the regulator identifies emerging risk and targets its activity. The consultation closes on 30 June 2026, giving contractors, duty holders, self-employed workers, and those in control of work premises a defined window to respond before any revised framework is taken forward.
