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"In April, the Health and Safety Executive launched a substantial consultation on its proposals for reform to the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013."
In April, the Health and Safety Executive (“HSE”) launched a substantial consultation on its proposals for reform to the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (“RIDDOR”) 2013. The consultation is set to close on 7 July 2026 and marks the first major review to RIDDOR in over ten years, covering both legislative and non-legislative reforms. The proposals collectively reflect a broader shift towards a clearer, more expansive, data-driven regime. This consultation applies across all sectors but may have particular implications for the energy and infrastructure fields, with the volume and types of reportable events likely to shift materially.
Background
RIDDOR 2013 has for some time been criticised by organisations and duty holders for lack of clarity in its core terminology, particularly its ambiguity in defining whether an incident is ‘work-related’ or meets the threshold of a reportable injury. These ambiguities have resulted in both under- and over-reporting.
Additionally, the existing framework provides a limited list of reportable occupational diseases, with the current categories of dangerous occurrences failing to capture the full scope of modern health and safety issues. The reforms proposed by the HSE seek to better “account for current and emerging workplace risks“.¹
Key Legislative Reforms
1. Clarification of key definitions (Regulation 2):
The HSE specifically seeks to target ambiguity around the definitions of ‘work-related’, ‘injury’, ‘significant’ and ‘routine work’. Notably, there is no current definition of ‘injury’ in Regulation 2, and the HSE proposes to include a specific definition as well as issuing guidance around this term, in order to provide clarity for reporting purposes.
If the reforms are enacted, there would be narrower scope for interpretation, which could result in an increase in incidents being reported as a precautionary measure.
2. Expansion of occupational diseases list (Regulation 8):
One of the most significant reforms is to the list of work-related occupational diseases, which increases from six to 19. Silicosis is a key example of a currently non-reportable disease under the regulations, with the result that cases are often only identified after prolonged exposure, limiting the HSE’s ability to intervene effectively at an earlier stage.
"One of the most significant reforms is to the list of work-related occupational diseases, which increases from six to 19."
The reforms are likely to increase the number of reportable cases and enhance the HSE’s ability to identify patterns of exposure and target high-risk sectors. This is particularly pertinent in industries such as energy and construction, where we typically see prolonged exposure to noise and hazardous materials, which may have previously fallen outside the scope of the reporting regulations.
3. Widening scope of who can diagnose occupational diseases (Regulation 2):
The current definition of ‘diagnosis’ under Regulation 2 has been regarded as too narrow for modern healthcare practice: the Regulation states that only a doctor, who is “registered and holds a licen[c]e to practice with the General Medical Council” can diagnose an occupational disease for the purposes of reporting. The HSE proposes to expand this to allow for registered nurses and physiotherapists, in addition to doctors, to legally diagnose under this definition.
4. Revision of ‘dangerous occurrences’ list (Schedule 2):
The current list of dangerous occurrences has been criticised for regulatory blind spots, including the failure to adequately capture ‘precursor events’ (i.e. incidents with a high potential to cause serious harm, even when no injury ultimately occurs).
The list is also limited in its focus on the oil and gas and mining industries. As the HSE notes, the list “does not adequately cover new types of workplaces and risks, such as offshore windfarms, hydrogen generation or the use of new explosives and chemicals“. In order to modernise the regime, the HSE seems not simply to be updating wording, but extending the regulations to newer energy sectors that have not historically been captured.
Administrative Reform
The HSE intends to improve and simplify the reporting process and ensure reporting is more user-friendly, primarily through changes to the online reporting form. This process, while intending to be simplified, will likely lead to increased volumes of reporting overall, as clearer guidance and prompts may reduce under-reporting, whilst encouraging borderline incidents that may previously have gone unreported to be captured.
Implications for energy and infrastructure projects
The above proposals, if implemented, are likely to have a significant impact on health and safety requirements within infrastructure projects. The expanded list of occupational diseases, broader diagnostic triggers and revised categories of dangerous occurrences all point to a material increase in reportable events across the project lifecycle. Incidents that may previously not have been reportable (or might have been considered borderline) are more likely to fall within scope. This is particularly relevant in the context of ‘near miss’ or precursor incidents. Whilst RIDDOR currently recognises incidents with the potential to cause harm, the consultation aims to build on this and ensure significant precursor events are consistently captured, in order to allow the HSE to identify emerging risks and intervene at an earlier stage.
The consultation also shifts the regulatory focus from discrete, identifiable incidents towards capturing effects of longer-term exposure and occupational health risks. The HSE notes that work-related ill health is often only identified “after a long latency period“, making it difficult to “attribute to any one exposure if it emerges years later” and therefore difficult to intervene in real time. By expanding the list of reportable diseases, the proposals aim to strengthen data capture by bringing these risks within the scope of the regime at an earlier stage.
This shift is especially relevant in construction and energy project environments, where prolonged exposure to dust, noise and hazardous materials might not cause immediate harm but may give rise to serious ill health over an extended period. The reforms will likely extend reporting beyond distinct events to encompass patterns of exposure and enable the HSE to identify systemic risk and intervene earlier in high-risk sectors. This strategy highlights the HSE’s wider objective of improving “data and intelligence… to account for current and emerging workplace risks“.
More consistent and comprehensive reporting is likely to amplify regulatory scrutiny of project activity and therefore businesses may need to prepare for enhanced data reporting obligations, particularly in sectors that have historically been less scrutinised under the current regime.
"A key issue is likely to be the practical impact of the proposed expansions to occupational diseases and dangerous occurrences, and whether these changes accurately reflect sector-specific risks without significantly increasing the reporting burden."
Next steps and responding to the consultation
The consultation provides a limited opportunity for duty holders to influence proposals through responses to the HSE. A key issue is likely to be the practical impact of the proposed expansions to occupational diseases and dangerous occurrences and whether these changes accurately reflect sector-specific risks without significantly increasing the reporting burden. The proposals also raise the question of whether newer technologies, including offshore wind, hydrogen and other renewables projects, are more clearly brought within scope of the reporting regime.
In practice, more reportable events and clearer reporting thresholds are likely to lead to greater engagement from the HSE, with consequences including formal investigations, compliance assessments and potential liability where incidents of non-compliance are identified.
Organisations operating in these sectors should monitor the progress of the consultation closely and ensure that their internal health and safety mechanisms are robust enough to withstand these potentially burdensome changes, and the increased liabilities which are likely to accompany them.
London Trainee Michelle Messerer also contributed to this article.
[1] Consultation on proposals for The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013.
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