Do I need to report road traffic accidents under RIDDOR?

The Reporting of Injuries Diseases and Dangerous Occurences Regulations 1995, more commonly known as RIDDOR, generate a certain amount of confusion amongst employers when it comes to the reporting of work-related driving incidents. Here are some examples of some incidents that must be reported and others that don’t need to be reported to try and clarify the situation:

A driver was seriously injured in a collision with another vehicle on a motorway.

No. The driver’s injuries resulted from the movement of a vehicle on a road and hence there is no need to report the accident. However, the accident should be reported to the police.

Two of our staff received major injuries when one who was driving our delivery truck collided with a forklift truck that the other was driving. The accident happened on the private road around our site.

Probably yes. The exemption for reporting road traffic accidents only applies when the vehicle was on a ‘road’ as defined in the Road Traffic Act 1988. Unless the public normally have use of the site’s road, it won’t be included in the RTA’s definition of a ‘road’.

Two shoppers were injured and taken to hospital for treatment when their cars collided on a supermarket car park.

Yes, but only if the accident was connected to the supermarket’s work. A car park is not regarded as a ‘road’ as defined in the Road Traffic Act 1988 and so RIDDOR applies. Examples of where the supermarket’s work is connected to the accident would be the design of the car park or if the supermarket had erected an advertising board that obscured their view and so contributed to the collision.

Our delivery driver was hit and injured by a car when unloading his van on the road.

Yes. Deaths and injuries covered by regulation 3 must still be reported even if the accident was caused by a vehicle moving on a road when this involves the loading or unloading of the vehicle.

A road worker was injured when a car crashed through the coned-off area where they were working.

Yes. Injuries caused by moving vehicles are reportable if the injured person was doing maintenance or construction work on the road, its verges or an adjacent building or structure.

A security guard received a major injury when a thief hit them when making a getaway in a car.

If the car was being driven on a road, then it is not reportable. If this was in a private area then it would be reportable as an act of non-consensual violence to a person who was at work.