New HSE incident reporting arrangements

Businesses reminded about new incident reporting arrangements which came into effect this week

BUSINESSES are being reminded about the new incident reporting arrangements which came into effect on Monday 12 September.

Now, only fatal and major injuries and incidents can be reported by phone to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), with all other work-related injuries and incidents reportable under RIDDOR to be reported via one of a suite of seven online forms available on HSE’s website.

Commenting on the new arrangements, Trevor Carlile, the HSE’s director of strategy, said: ‘This should not be a significant change for many, as more than half of reportable injuries are already notified to HSE through the website.

‘The new forms are intuitive and quick and easy to complete. The most important thing is that there will still be somebody at the end of the phone to assist those who are reporting a traumatic event that has resulted in a death or major injury.’

Later this month the HSE’s Infoline telephone service, which currently provides a basic information service to callers, will end. Instead, from 30 September, those seeking information and official guidance will be directed to HSE’s website.

According to the HSE, various improvements have been made to the website to coincide with the closure of Infoline. There is clearer information on what HSE does and does not do, and expanded ‘question & answer’ sections for the most frequent health and safety enquiries.

‘The HSE’s website is already overwhelmingly the most popular option for accessing health and safety information,’ added Mr Carlile. ‘We’re confident that our web services can be efficient and effective at a fraction of the cost per contact compared with telephone services, and we’ll continue to make improvements to make the website as intuitive and easy to use as possible.’