By Stephen Hudson. Last Updated 8th April 2025. If you have suffered an injury in the workplace, you might have questions about who should report or record the incident, such as ‘Who is responsible for filling in accident book?’ and ‘Who needs to report the accident to the Health and Safety Executive?’. If so, this guide could help as we discuss whose responsibility it is for reporting and recording injuries at work.
Employers have an obligation to report certain injuries and accidents that occur in the workplace. Additionally, employees have a responsibility to inform their employer or another relevant party that they have been injured in an accident at work. Read on to learn more about the process that must be followed when a workplace accident occurs.
Additionally, we discuss when you could be eligible to begin a personal injury claim following a workplace accident, examples of injuries you could potentially be compensated for, and how compensation is calculated for a successful claim. Furthermore, we discuss how Legal Expert could help you by connecting you with one of our solicitors to represent your claim under No Win No Fee terms.
If you have any other questions about claiming compensation or who is responsible for recording injuries at work, get in touch with our team. To reach them, you can:
- Call 0800 073 8804
- Start your claim online
- Use the live chat function below.
Select A Section
- Who Has The Overall Responsibility For Recording Injuries At Work Under RIDDOR?
- Who Is Responsible For Filling In An Accident Book?
- Reporting Accidents As An Employee
- Reporting Accidents As An Employer
- Do You Have The Basis For A Workplace Accident Claim?
- What Steps Should Be Taken After A Workplace Accident?
- No Win No Fee Accident At Work Claims
- Resources And Useful Links
Who Has The Overall Responsibility For Recording Injuries At Work Under RIDDOR?
Certain injuries and accidents must be reported to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR). However, not all workplace injuries need to be reported to the HSE.
RIDDOR is the regulations that are in place for reporting diseases, incidents, and accidents. The following are examples of what needs to be recorded:
- Injuries to an individual who does not work at the premises yet have suffered due to a problem at the site
- Certain ‘dangerous occurrences’ – i.e. near-miss accidents
- Causes of industrial diseases
- Work-related accidents that have caused certain serious workplace injuries
- Work-related deaths
No matter what industry you operate in, these recording injuries at work regulations must be adhered to.
Who Is Responsible For Filling In An Accident Book?
Under the Social Security (Claims and Payments) Regulations 1979, an accident at work book is a legal requirement for all workplaces with ten or more employees. You may be unsure about who is responsible for filling in an accident book. An accident book can be filled in by anyone. However, any report made in it should be checked by the qualified first aider for the workplace.
The accident logbook should detail the injured party’s name, the date and time of the incident and any relevant details.
Employers should ensure that an incident is recorded in the accident book if it results in a worker being incapacitated for more than 3 consecutive days. However, it is good practice for any workplace accident to be recorded even if this doesn’t happen. If you are involved in an accident at work caused by your employer breaching their duty of care, then a report in the accident book could be used as evidence if you choose to make a claim.
Contact our advisors for free today for advice on the process of making an accident at work claim.
Reporting Accidents As An Employee
If you have witnessed or been involved in an accident, you may be wondering how to report an accident at work.
All employers must take reasonable steps to protect their employees whilst in the workplace, as stated in the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. This is their duty of care. If an employer were to breach this duty of care, this could lead to an accident. If your workplace has ten or more employees, there should be an accident book on-site for reporting accidents and incidents at work.
When reporting an accident at work in your workplace’s accident book, you should provide information of the following:
- Your name.
- The date of the incident.
- Details of the accident.
- Any injuries sustained.
You should complete the accident book as soon as possible after the incident. You can also complete the accident book if you witnessed the incident and the person who was injured is unable to complete it themselves, for example, if they are unconscious.
Contact our advisors today if you would like further information on how and when to report an accident at work.
Reporting Accidents As An Employer
As per RIDDOR – the regulations that were touched upon earlier – you need to report any incidents whereby a member of the public has been taken to hospital, dangerous occurrences, work-related disease, major injuries, and deaths in the workplace. It is imperative you begin reporting accidents and incidents at work to HSE at the earliest chance. You can use an online report form via the HSE website to do this. If you are wondering what counts as a major injury and what does not. As per HSE, major injuries include:
- Acute illness that requires medical treatment
- Loss of consciousness
- Injuries leading to resuscitation, unconsciousness, heat-induced illness, hypothermia, or hospital admittance for more than 24 hours
- Injuries from an electrical burn or shock
- Hot metal or chemical burn to the eye
- Loss of sight
- Dislocation injury of the spine, knee, hip or shoulder
- Limb amputation
- A fracture, apart from those to toes, thumbs, and fingers
Do You Have The Basis For A Workplace Accident Claim?
Now that we know more about who is responsible for reporting accidents in the workplace and why is it important to review the accident book, let’s talk about making a workplace injury claim.
To be eligible to claim compensation, you need to be able to prove that negligence occurred. But what is negligence? When it comes to making an accident at work claim, negligence happens when:
- You are owed a duty of care by your employer
- They breach this duty
- You are injured as a result
Your employer’s duty of care is outlined under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (HASAWA), which states that employers need to take all reasonable practicable steps to keep their employees safe while they work.
For example, this might include putting out a wet floor sign after a spillage to prevent employees from slipping and falling. If they failed to do so, and you slipped and fell, causing a severe head injury, then you could potentially make an accident at work claim.
Keep reading to find out how a report in the accident book can be useful if you intend to make a personal injury claim, or contact our team of advisors today for further information.
What Steps Should Be Taken After A Workplace Accident?
Having looked at who has the overall responsibility for recording injuries at work, we wanted to look at what steps should be taken in the immediate aftermath of a workplace accident. These steps not only give the injured person the best chance of recovery but also help ensure a safer workplace.
Things that should be done following a workplace accident include:
- Getting medical attention: whether they have minor injuries that the designated first aider can treat, or whether an ambulance is required, this should be done as soon as possible.
- Record the incident: the incident must be logged in the workplace accident book. It doesn’t matter who makes the report, although some companies have assigned a person responsible for filling in the report. The designated first aider should also check the entry to make sure all relevant information has been included.
- Investigate what happened: the points of failure that led to the accident (poor maintenance, lack of training, environmental hazards) should be promptly identified. The injured person should also gather evidence to support any claim they may wish to make.
- Review current health and safety policies and make any necessary changes: if the investigation into what happened reveals the accident could have been prevented, then swift steps should be implemented in order to avoid recurrence. This can include updating risk assessments, having more robust training and ensuring maintenance operations are completed regularly.
To get a free eligibility assessment, talk to our team today.
No Win No Fee Accident At Work Claims
It is not compulsory to instruct a solicitor to represent your accident at work claim. However, by working with a solicitor on your claim they can bring many benefits, this can include;
- The collection of evidence needed to prove your accident at work claim
- Arrange for an independent medical assessment in a location close to your home
- correspond with the defendant and their insurer
- Ensure that all limitation and deadlines are met
- Take witness statements from any potential witnesses that can support your claim
As well as this, all of our solicitors work on a No Win No Fee basis. To do this they use a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) which gives the claimant the following benefits:
- No fees to pay for the solicitor’s service at the beginning of the claim
- No fees for these services as the claim progresses
- Should the claim fail, the claimant is not required to pay for the work completed on the case
If the personal injury claim is successful, then under the CFA the solicitor can take what is known as a success fee. This is a legally capped percentage of the compensation awarded to the claimant.
If you want to make a claim, we can help you to get the compensation you deserve. We will also happily answer any questions you may have about workplace incidents and the claims process and we can give you accident at work examples. You can reach us on 0800 073 8804.
This line is open seven days per week. Alternatively, you can use the live chat feature on our website, fill in the contact form, or send an email. No matter how you choose to get in touch, you can be sure of 100 per cent confidentiality at all times.
Resources And Useful Links
Hopefully, you have found this guide useful on your quest for more information. If you need any further advice, see below.
HSE – Reporting Incidents – Access the HSE guidance on reporting accidents and incidents at work.
HSE – Work health and safety statistics – This page on the Health and Safety Executive website gives you access to the organisation’s latest statistics on reported work accidents.
Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 – Here you can read a piece of legislation which is crucial to providing employees with legally-required protection while at work.
