By law, if you are an employer, self-employed or responsible for a work premises, eg a site supervisor, you must report certain work-related incidents to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE)
You must report
- a death
- a major injury
- an injury which incapacitates prevents a person returning to work for more than 7 days
- a work-related disease
- certain dangerous events ('near misses')
You must also record any injury where a person is incapacitated off work for more than 7 days as a result of their accident.
How to report
Death or major injury
To report a death or major injury, call the HSE Incident Contact Centre immediately on 0845 300 9923 or out of hours (although this is not an emergency service).
Other incidents
What happens next?
The HSE will send your report to us if your business is:
- retail or wholesale
- hotel or catering
- sports or leisure
- residential accommodation (excluding nursing homes)
- a place of worship
- pre-school childcare
- mobile vending
We will then consider whether to investigate the incident. The HSE itself investigates incidents in factories and industrial premises.
View the Health and Safety Executive: Reporting accidents and incidents at work (PDF, 314KB)