The accident book and the RIDDOR report do different jobs and get confused constantly. The book is the internal record of what happened, kept for everything including the minor and the near miss. The RIDDOR report is the external notification of a narrow list of serious events. A business that only writes down what it has to report to HSE has no data about the things that nearly went wrong, which is the data that would have prevented the reportable one.
Why a book is kept at all
Nothing in the health and safety regulations requires an accident book by that name. The requirement comes from social security law, because a record made at the time is what supports a later claim for industrial injuries benefit, and from the health and safety duties that sit around it: reviewing the risk assessment when it is no longer valid, investigating so the same thing does not happen again, and having evidence if a civil claim arrives years later. The exact statutory threshold in the Social Security (Claims and Payments) Regulations 1979 could not be read from a published copy of regulation 25 on 10 September 2026, so this page does not state one. The practical position is unaffected: an employer of any size is better off keeping the book than not.
What an accident at work form entry must contain, and the data protection catch
The injured person's details, the date, time and place, what happened and what injury resulted, and who made the entry. Because the entry carries personal data about health, completed entries must be kept where other employees cannot read them. That is why the modern books use detachable pages, and why a bound book on a shelf in the workshop is a problem rather than good record keeping.
What a near miss is, with near miss examples worth recording
An unplanned event that did not cause injury but could have. A load swinging free of a sling and landing where nobody was standing. A scaffold board found unsecured at the start of a shift. A forklift and a pedestrian meeting at a blind corner. A circuit found live after it was supposed to have been isolated. Each is a free lesson, and each is only a lesson if it is written down.
Running an investigation that changes something
Secure the scene and get the facts before memories set. Interview the people who were there separately and without blame in the room. Establish the sequence, then keep asking why until you reach a decision somebody made rather than a mistake somebody made. Then change the thing: the assessment, the method, the training, the equipment or the supervision. An investigation that ends in an action nobody owns and nobody dates has not finished.
Accident and incident reporting in care homes
In a care home an incident may need recording in the accident book, reporting under RIDDOR, notifying to the regulator, and recording in the resident's own care records, and the tests for each are different. Working out in advance which incidents trip which duty is far easier than working it out on the day.
An accident book template, and what the law actually asks you to keep
The old standard book is still sold and is a reasonable format, and what matters is the content and the confidentiality. An entry needs the injured person, the date and time, where it happened, what happened, the injury, who else was involved and who recorded it, and the entries have to be kept in a way that does not let one person read another's, which is why the bound book with tear out pages exists. Keep it for at least three years from the last entry. Then the separate duty: certain injuries, diseases and dangerous occurrences are reportable to the enforcing authority, and the book is not the report.
Questions people ask about accident investigation
When is an accident book required in the workplace?
There is no accident book duty in the health and safety regulations. The requirement comes from social security law so that a contemporaneous record supports a later benefit claim, and in practice every employer keeps one because the health and safety duties to investigate and to review assessments depend on having the record.
What is a near miss?
An unplanned event that did not result in injury or damage but had the potential to. Recording them is not a legal requirement in itself, though some dangerous occurrences are reportable under RIDDOR.
Is the accident book the same as a RIDDOR report?
No. The book is an internal record of what happened. RIDDOR is a report to the enforcing authority about a narrow list of serious incidents, with its own deadlines.
Who can see completed accident book entries?
Only those who need to. Entries carry health data about identified people, so completed records must be stored so that other employees cannot read them.
Is there a RIDDOR report form?
Reporting is done online through the HSE's own service, with a telephone route for a fatal or major incident. The accident book is the internal record and does not report anything to anybody, which is the confusion that most often delays a report.
What is the RIDDOR meaning in practice?
That certain workplace incidents have to be reported to the regulator, not that all of them do. The acronym covers injuries, diseases and dangerous occurrences, and only the specified injuries, the listed diseases and the listed occurrences are reportable; the rest still go in your own record.