Changes to the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) 1995 will require fewer incidents to be reported.

The plans are due to come into force in October.

The main changes will be to simplify the reporting requirements in the following areas:

• The classification of ‘major injuries’ to workers replaced with a shorter list of ‘specified injuries’
• The existing schedule detailing 47 types of industrial disease to be replaced with eight categories of reportable work-related illness
• Fewer types of ‘dangerous occurrence’ will require reporting

There will not be any significant changes to the reporting requirements for:

• Fatal accidents
• Accidents to non-workers (members of the public)
• Accidents resulting in a worker being unable to perform their normal range of duties for more than seven days

The changes will require fewer incidents to be reported overall and it is estimated that they will result in a net benefit to business of £5.9m over a ten-year period.

They will not alter the current ways to report an incident at work and the criteria that determine whether an incident should be investigated will remain the same.