RIDDOR Reform 2026: What HSE's Consultation Could Change

The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations — RIDDOR — set out what workplace injuries, diseases, and dangerous occurrences employers are legally required to report to the Health and Safety Executive. The framework has been broadly stable since 2013, but the HSE launched a consultation in 2026 proposing changes substantial enough that commentators are describing it as the biggest shake-up to workplace injury and disease reporting in over a decade.

Nothing in the consultation is law yet — these are proposals, not confirmed changes — but the scope and direction are clear enough that employers and health and safety teams should understand what's being considered now, rather than waiting for a final outcome to start thinking about it.

The current RIDDOR baseline

Under the existing regime, employers must report specified categories of work-related death, specified injury, over-seven-day incapacitation, occupational disease, and dangerous occurrence to the HSE, generally via the online RIDDOR reporting system. Only a doctor registered with the General Medical Council can currently provide the diagnosis that triggers a reportable-disease report, and the list of reportable occupational diseases has remained fixed at six broad categories since the last major overhaul.

What the 2026 consultation proposes

A much longer list of reportable diseases

The most significant proposed change expands the list of reportable occupational diseases from six to nineteen. This includes reinstating nine diseases that were previously removed from the reportable list — among them asbestosis and pneumoconiosis — alongside four entirely new additions: noise-induced hearing loss, bronchiolitis obliterans, occupational allergic rhinitis, and occupational contact urticaria. For employers in sectors with any exposure to noise, dust, or sensitising substances, this alone would substantially widen the circumstances in which a report becomes mandatory.

Who can trigger a report

Currently, only a GMC-registered doctor's diagnosis can trigger a reportable-disease report. The consultation proposes extending that diagnostic authority to other registered health practitioners, which would in practice lower the threshold for triggering a report — a diagnosis from a wider range of qualified professionals would be enough to create a reporting obligation, rather than requiring the case to specifically pass through a doctor.

Clearer — and potentially broader — definitions

HSE has acknowledged that ambiguity in terms like "work-related," "routine work," and "injury" has caused genuine uncertainty for employers trying to work out whether a given incident is reportable. The consultation proposes both legislative and guidance changes intended to reduce that uncertainty, though clarifying a definition can just as easily broaden its practical scope as narrow it.

New and expanded dangerous occurrence categories

Four new dangerous occurrence categories are proposed, with a particular focus on construction-related incidents, alongside six amendments clarifying existing categories. Structural collapse reporting would be expanded to explicitly include collapses of roofs, ceilings, temporary works, and trenches — categories that arguably should already have been captured but where practice has apparently been inconsistent.

A simpler reporting form

Separately from the legislative changes, HSE is also proposing non-legislative reforms to the online RIDDOR reporting form itself, aimed at improving usability and reducing both under-reporting (genuine incidents that go unreported because the form is confusing) and over-reporting (incidents reported unnecessarily out of caution).

Timeline: nothing is confirmed yet

The consultation closed on 30 June 2026. No implementation date has been set — any changes will depend on how HSE responds to consultation feedback, and legislative changes of this scope typically take further time to draft and lay before Parliament. Employers should treat this as a strong signal of direction rather than a set of rules to start applying today.

What employers should do now

Even before any changes take effect, this is a useful prompt to review current RIDDOR reporting practice: are near-miss and dangerous-occurrence records being kept in a way that would make it straightforward to identify newly-reportable categories if the disease list does expand? Are health surveillance records for noise and hazardous-substance exposure — both directly relevant to the proposed new disease categories — being kept in a form that would support a report if one became necessary? Employers already running COSHH-compliant hazardous substances controls and manual handling risk assessments are generally well placed, since the underlying record-keeping habits transfer directly to a wider RIDDOR reporting scope.

Frequently asked questions

Has RIDDOR actually changed yet?

No. These are proposals from a 2026 HSE consultation, which closed on 30 June 2026. No implementation date has been confirmed.

What's the biggest proposed change?

Expanding the list of reportable occupational diseases from six to nineteen categories, including noise-induced hearing loss and several previously-removed diseases such as asbestosis.

Would more people be able to trigger a RIDDOR report?

Potentially, yes — the consultation proposes extending diagnostic authority beyond GMC-registered doctors to other registered health practitioners.

RIDDOR reform is still at the proposal stage, but the direction of travel — broader reportable-disease coverage, wider diagnostic authority, and clearer dangerous-occurrence categories — is consistent enough that employers reviewing their reporting processes now will be better placed whenever a final rule change does land. Learnsignal's CPD courses cover UK workplace health and safety compliance developments as they are confirmed.