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Knowing your legal obligations is important in any business. In equestrian settings, keeping records is not always on the top of your ‘to do ‘ list but it is essential that you do so – for your own business planning and safety awareness and also because it’s the law. If you get any inspection for health & safety or other reasons, they will want to see your Accident book and know your reporting is up to date and compliant.
Beyond recording incidents and accidents, RIDDOR is the ‘next level up’ in seriousness of incident reporting.
RIDDOR stands for the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR)
What needs to be reported under RIDDOR?
- Under these regulations certain specified injuries /events have to be reported to the Health and Safety Executive. These include;
- fractures, other than to fingers, thumbs and toes
- amputations
- any injury likely to lead to permanent loss of sight or reduction in sight
- any crush injury to the head or torso causing damage to the brain or internal organs serious burns (including scalding) which covers more than 10% of the body or causes significant damage to the eyes, respiratory system or other vital organs
- any scalping requiring hospital treatment
- any loss of consciousness caused by head injury or asphyxia
- any other injury arising from working in an enclosed space which leads to hypothermia or heat-induced illness or requires resuscitation or admittance to hospital for more than 24 hours
- any death other than suicide.
What else needs to be reported?
Also reportable are-
3 Over-seven-day incapacitation of a worker – Accidents must be reported through RIDDOR where they result in an employee or self-employed person being away from work, or unable to perform their normal work duties, for more than seven consecutive days as the result of their injury. This seven day period does not include the day of the accident, but does include weekends and rest days. The report must be made within 15 days of the accident.
4 Over-three-day incapacitation – Accidents must be recorded, but not reported where they result in a worker being incapacitated for more than three consecutive days. If you are an employer, who must keep an accident book under the Social Security (Claims and Payments) Regulations 1979, that record will be enough.
5 Non fatal accidents to non-workers (eg members of the public)
6 Accidents to members of the public or others who are not at work must be reported if they result in an injury and the person is taken directly from the scene of the accident to hospital for treatment to that injury. Examinations and diagnostic tests do not constitute ‘treatment’ in such circumstances. If the incident occurred as part of the normal riding activity and there was no failure in the management system, then it would not be RIDDOR reportable. If on the other hand, the accident was caused by a failure in the work of the riding establishment e.g. if faulty equipment/condition of the premises/riding surface, inadequate instruction contributed to an accident, then it would be reportable. A decision about whether a work-related accident is reportable requires proprietors to make a reasonable judgement based on the information available to them.
7. There is no need to report incidents where people are taken to hospital purely as a precaution when no injury is apparent.
8. Further guidance on when, what to report are available the HSE website.
9. Reporting can be carried out via the HSE website form: https://extranet.hse.gov.uk/lfserver/external/F2508IE or by telephone at the Incident Contact Centre on 0345 300 9923 (opening hours Monday to Friday 8.30 am to 5 pm).
10. It is also important to investigate properly accidents and ‘near miss incidents’. This is where an incident could have caused injury but did not. By monitoring these types of incident they help to better understand the things that can go wrong and thus preventative action can be taken.
Introducing our Equestrian specific Incident Report Book.
We have produced an equestrian specific Accident Book for horse riding establishments. You can view and buy it here. They are tailored for equestrian settings and include the recording of helmets, horse name, riding activity type and more – all to help you note what was going on when the accident happened.
Get confident – get trained!
To prepare for any accidents, why not consider taking a first aid course to give you and your team the confidence as well as the first aid skills. To find out which first aid course is best for you check out our specific equestrian first aid webpage.
Everyone on our courses receives a FREE digital first aid manual. We have a range of manuals relevant to the courses we teach – Outdoor, Equestrian, First Aid at Work, Paediatric and Sports. They are a great resource that you can download onto your phone or other device and have all that first aid knowledge at your fingertips. You can view them and buy them for less than £5 here.
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