Report an incident

Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR)

The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997, places a legal duty on employers, self-employed people and people in control of premises to report:

  • work-related deaths
  • major injuries or over-three-day injuries
  • work related diseases
  • dangerous occurrences (near miss accidents)

Since 1 April 2013, employers have the option to report all work-related incidents to HSENI, no matter who the relevant enforcing authority is for the business. 

HSENI, in agreement with local councils, are now offering this new service, in the hope that it will make it easier for employers to report incidents at work.

This is especially relevant where it is difficult for an employer to determine who their relevant enforcing authority is.

HSENI will process all forms onto its RIDDOR database and, where applicable, forward on relevant forms to the appropriate district council to register and process in the normal way.

Although revised RIDDOR reporting requirements were introduced in Great Britain in 2012 and 2013, the position in Northern Ireland remains unchanged. Following a public consultation exercise it was decided not to introduce similar changes in Northern Ireland as outlined below.

These NI2508 forms should only be used to report work-related accidents and dangerous occurrences as defined in the RIDDOR regulations. 

Please see the Riddor booklet and guidance for advice on these regulations. If you still need assistance please ring us on 0800 0320 121.

If you have been involved in an accident at work

The RIDDOR form to notify HSENI of your accident/disease etc. should be completed by either your employer or yourself if you are self-employed.

The online form cannot be accepted by HSENI if it is completed online and sent in by an employee i.e. the person who had the accident, dangerous occurrence or disease, and who is working for an employer.

If you wish to tell HSENI about an accident you have had at work, or wish to report an unsafe/unhealthy workplace, your concerns should be sent to HSENI using the “make an online complaint about unsafe or unhealthy work activities” option which is available at the following link:

RIDDOR forms

The following RIDDOR forms can be completed on-line. Please note that the links below set a cookie on your computer.

Reporting cases of COVID-19 to persons at work

1.  Coronavirus is classified as a biological agent as defined in regulation 2(1) of the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003.

2.  For a report of coronavirus infection / death to be reportable under RIDDOR there must be:

  • Reasonable evidence that someone diagnosed with COVID-19 was likely exposed because of their work (e.g. a work-related exposure to coronavirus would be a health care professional who is diagnosed with COVID-19 after treating patients with COVID-19); AND
  • The person making the report has received a written statement prepared by a registered medical practitioner diagnosing the disease [Coronavirus / COVID 19 in this case]; AND
  • The work of the person who has the disease involves one of the following activities:
    • Work with micro-organisms; OR
    • Work with live or dead human beings in the course of providing any treatment or service or in conducting any investigation involving exposure to blood or body fluids; OR
    • Work with animals or any potentially infected material derived from any of the above;

3.  If the criteria in 2 above are met you must report a case of coronavirus infection at work using:

4.  In the ‘Disease Type Box’ please select “INFECTION ATTRIBUTABLE TO SPECIFIED WORK (SCHEDULE 3 NO. 27)” if reporting COVID 19 / Coronavirus.

Reporting dangerous occurrences involving COVID-19 at work

5.  This category is invoked if there has been an unintended incident at work has led to someone’s possible or actual exposure to coronavirus. An example of a dangerous occurrence would be a lab worker accidentally smashing a glass vial containing coronavirus, leading to people being exposed. It does not include where, for example, coronavirus was found on a surface due to a failure of cleaning etc. As stated it is likely to be limited to research or clinical settings where the virus is being handled.

6.  If you believe that a dangerous occurrence has happened you must only make a report using:

Reports of a Flammable Gas Incident or Dangerous Gas Fitting

Reports of a Flammable Gas Incident or Dangerous Gas Fitting can also be reported using RIDDOR forms NI2508G1 & G2 respectively:

  1. Form NI2508G2 should be used to report to HSENI gas appliances and installations using either natural gas or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) that have been examined or tested and regarded to be dangerous*, but have not actually caused any injuries

    * To be regarded as “dangerous” there must be a serious fault in either the design or construction of the gas fitting (including any flueing or ventilation provided for appliances), or in the way the initial installation was carried out or later serviced or modified. The fault must be so serious that people are likely to suffer death, or major injury from the acute effects of carbon monoxide poisoning or the effects of fires or explosions following gas escapes.
     
  2. Form NI2508G1 should be used to report actual incidents that have led to death or major injuries to gas consumers from the use of faulty installations**

    ** When such an incident occurs a report should be made to HSENI by telephone as soon as practicable. This should then be followed up with a NI2508G1 form available on request from HSENI. 
     
  3. Form NI2508 should be used to report any deaths or major injuries arising from the use of gas that involve persons whilst at work

Secure network and access

HSENI has implemented technical and organisational security measures to guarantee the security of your personal information.

Users’ personal information is stored in our secure network and access is restricted to employees. 

In areas where you enter data we work with the “Secure Socket Layer” (SSL) standard encryption system.

Please note that your browser must support encryption protection. You can find this, for example, in Internet Explorer version 3.0 or a higher version and most other browsers.

Data is stored in databases which are protected against unauthorised access by security firewalls and software.

Whenever your browser displays a closed padlock symbol at the bottom of the screen, or a similar icon/highlighted web address in a different browser, this indicates that your data is being transmitted in an encrypted format. 

If the SSL system is not available for technical reasons, an error page is displayed to ensure that under no circumstances can your data be transmitted without encryption. 

Personal information

In general, you do not need to provide personalised information to access our websites.

Personal data includes your:

  • name
  • address
  • telephone number
  • email address  

Your personal data is stored only if you provide us with this information in order to use one of the services on our website - for example reporting an injury or a dangerous occurrence.

This data is then processed and used to perform the requested services.

Please note that a receipt email, including a copy of the details provided in the RIDDOR submission, will automatically be sent back to the email address it was received from.

This personal data is not processed for any other purpose.