The value of this document appears three years later
An accident record feels like admin on the day and turns out to be the most important piece of paper on the job when a claim arrives, because by then it is the only account written by anybody who was there.
Which is why the fields that look tedious are the ones worth filling. "On site" is useless in three years. "Fabrication bay, Unit 4, near the saw" is a place somebody can picture. A witness named on the day can be asked; a witness nobody wrote down cannot be found.
Facts and sequence, not blame. What they were doing, what went wrong, what happened next. Somebody who was not there will read it cold.
What this tool will not do, and why
It will not tell you whether the accident is RIDDOR reportable.
That is a deliberate decision rather than a gap. Reportability can turn on facts nobody has on the day: whether a fracture is a fracture, whether sight loss is permanent, whether an admission passed twenty-four hours. And the failure mode is asymmetric. A tool that says "reportable" when it is not costs somebody an unnecessary form. A tool that says "not reportable"when it is contributes to a missed legal deadline, and that is not a risk worth taking to make a free tool feel cleverer.
So it shows which triggers appear to be in play, and sends you to HSE's own guidance to decide. Deaths and specified injuries are reported without delay by telephone, before any form is filled in anywhere.
Recording and reporting are two different duties
This is the pair people conflate, and conflating them is how an accident ends up neither recorded nor reported.
Recording is keeping the account. It applies regardless. An accident where somebody is off for more than three days but not more than seven must be recorded and does not have to be reported to HSE.
Reporting is telling HSE, and it has its own triggers and its own deadlines.
A tool that answers only the reporting question and says "you do not need to do anything" has left somebody with an unrecorded accident. So this one starts from the record.
How the days are counted, because it is not the obvious way
Do not count the day of the accident. Do count weekends, rest days and any other day the person would not have been working anyway.
So somebody hurt on a Friday afternoon who is off the following week has passed three days by the Tuesday, because Saturday and Sunday count. People routinely assume working days and get this wrong in the direction that matters.
The deadline trap worth knowing
This one is not stated plainly in most guides, so understand it before you need it.
Where a report becomes due because an absence passed seven days, the time allowed to file runs from the date of the accident, not from the day the seven days were passed.
So the sequence is: somebody is hurt, they are off, and on day eight you realise a report is due. Eight days of your allowance are already gone. You do not have the full period from the moment you found out; you have what is left of it.
That is the practical reason to write the record on the day rather than when the absence starts looking serious. The clock has been running the whole time.
Somebody at work, or a member of the public
Two completely different tests, and the difference is not severity.
For somebody at work, it turns on the nature of the injury and how long they cannot do their normal job.
For a member of the public, it turns on whether they were taken from the scene to hospital and treated there for an injury from the accident. A precautionary visit, a diagnostic X-ray, or an examination concluding no injury is present is not the same thing. Attendance at a hospital is not the test; treatment is.
What is not covered here
RIDDOR 2013 applies in England, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland has its own equivalent regulations and its own reporting route, and nothing on this page should be assumed to match. Offshore work and some other sectors carry additional requirements too.
A name, an injury and an absence is health information
This matters more here than on most tools. An accident record holds somebody's name, their injury and their absence, which is health information about an identifiable person.
It is built in your browser and the PDF is written to your own machine, carrying your own company details. No account, no email address, and no copy on a server you do not control.
Common questions
Does this tell me whether my accident is RIDDOR reportable?
No, deliberately. It shows you which triggers to check and links to HSE, and it stops there. Whether a report is due can turn on a medical fact nobody has on the day, such as whether a fracture is a fracture or whether sight loss is permanent, and a tool telling you "not reportable" when it is would contribute to you missing a legal deadline. That is a line worth not crossing for free.
Then what is it for?
The account. Who, when, exactly where, what they were doing, what went wrong, who saw it, and what was done immediately. That is the document whose value shows up three years later when a claim arrives and this is the only contemporaneous record that exists. Getting it written on the day is worth more than any calculator.
How are the days of absence counted?
Not counting the day of the accident, but counting weekends and rest days. So an accident on a Friday with the person off the following week has already passed three days by the Tuesday. That is how the HSE guidance counts it, and it catches people out because it is not the intuitive way.
What is the difference between recording and reporting?
Recording is keeping the account. Reporting is telling HSE. They are separate duties with separate triggers, and the record applies regardless of whether a report is due. An accident where somebody is off for more than three days but not more than seven has to be recorded and does not have to be reported, which is the most commonly confused pair in the whole area.
Why does it ask whether the injured person was at work?
Because the test is completely different, and not by severity. For somebody at work it turns on the injury and how long they are off. For a member of the public it turns on whether they were taken from the scene to hospital and treated there. A precautionary visit or an X-ray that finds nothing is not the same thing.
Does this cover Northern Ireland?
No. RIDDOR 2013 covers England, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland has its own equivalent regulations and its own reporting route, and nothing here should be assumed to match.
Does the accident report get sent anywhere?
No. The record is built in your browser and the PDF is written on your own machine, with your own company details on it. That matters here more than on most tools: an accident record contains somebody’s name, their injury and their absence.