Incident and near-miss reporting for a self-employed workforce: who reports under RIDDOR, and what you record

Short answer. RIDDOR is not just for employees. When a self-employed person suffers a specified or over-7-day injury on someone else's work premises, the person in control of those premises reports it; on their own or domestic premises, they report a reportable accident themselves. Record every incident and near miss too, because near misses show where the next injury will come from.

General information for operators, not legal advice. The examples cover delivery, care, cleaning and field-service teams. Checked against the HSE and legislation.gov.uk pages listed under Sources on 19 October 2026.

• Does RIDDOR apply when the person is self-employed?
• What is reportable, and what is record-only?
• Why record near misses and non-reportable incidents?
• How should an operator run incident reporting?
• What should you keep on file?
• Where do self-employed workforces usually slip up?
• How Zerity helps
• Common questions
  • Is RIDDOR for employees only?
  • Does a self-employed person have to report their own injury?
  • What should an incident reporting procedure include?
  • Do near misses have to be reported?
• Sources

Does RIDDOR apply when the person is self-employed?

Yes, but who reports depends on where it happened. Under regulation 3 of RIDDOR 2013, for a reportable injury, death or dangerous occurrence involving a self-employed person or someone not at work, the "responsible person" is "the person who by means of their carrying on any undertaking was in control of the premises where the reportable or recordable incident happened, at the time it happened". For an employee, it is their employer.

HSE's who should report page puts it practically:

• On someone else's work premises: if a self-employed person suffers a specified injury or an over-7-day injury, "the person in control of the premises will be responsible for reporting". HSE tells the self-employed person to make sure, where possible, that the person in control knows about it.
• On their own premises or in domestic premises: the self-employed person reports a reportable accident themselves. Where the self-employed person is injured at premises they own or occupy, they need not make the immediate notification, and they can arrange for someone else to send the report.
• If you control the premises: you report work-related deaths, certain injuries to the public and self-employed people there, and dangerous occurrences.

The duty to report a death does not apply to "a self-employed person who suffers a fatal accident or fatal exposure on premises controlled by that self-employed person" (regulation 6(4)), and disease diagnoses are reported by the employer or by a "relevant self-employed person" as defined in regulation 3(3).

HSE says a self-employed person reports accidents in domestic premises themselves, and on a customer's work premises the customer, as the person in control, reports. The harder cases are depots or sites with several firms, and the kerbside while loading or unloading, where HSE does not say who is in control. Work out in advance who controls each place where the work is done, write down who reports, and take advice where it is unclear.

HSE also notes that "you may be self-employed for tax purposes, but this may not be the case for health and safety" (HSE, self-employed workers). Whether anyone is self-employed depends on the facts; see GOV.UK's employment status guidance and HMRC's CEST tool.

What is reportable, and what is record-only?

HSE's types of reportable incidents page and when to report page summarise the main categories:

HSE says the over-7-day rule applies to "an employee (or self-employed person)", counting weekends and rest days. Over-3-day incapacitation of a person at work must be recorded by the responsible person, not reported (regulation 12(1)(c)); HSE explains this for employers through the accident book.

Road incidents. Under regulation 14(3), deaths and injuries arising out of or in connection with the movement of a vehicle on a road are not reportable unless the person was hurt in an accident involving a train, by exposure to a substance being carried by the vehicle, while loading or unloading the vehicle (or by someone else doing so), or while doing, or by someone else doing, construction, demolition, alteration, repair or maintenance work on or alongside the road (regulation 14(4)). HSE says the exemption covers only a "road" under the Road Traffic Act 1988, so a collision in a private depot or yard the public cannot normally access can be reportable. For van damage, see our vehicle damage reporting guide.

Members of the public. A customer or passer-by hurt in a work-related accident is reportable if taken from the scene to hospital for treatment. HSE says examinations and diagnostic tests such as X-rays are not treatment, and there is no need to report people taken to hospital purely as a precaution when no injury is apparent.

Why record near misses and non-reportable incidents?

Most incidents never reach RIDDOR. A slip with no injury, a dog bite treated with a plaster, a ladder that nearly tipped: none needs a report, but each tells you something about a site, a task or a piece of kit. HSE describes dangerous occurrences as "certain incidents with a high potential to cause death or serious injury"; the near misses below that line are your early warning. The same address producing three near misses in a month is a risk to deal with before someone is hurt.

How should an operator run incident reporting?

This is the workflow we suggest for a self-employed workforce:

1. Capture at the point of work. Make it easy to report straight away, not at the end of the week: date, time, location, what happened in the person's own words, who was involved, any injury and photos where safe.
2. Triage. The same day, decide whether it is reportable, record-only or a near miss, and record who decided and why.
3. Notify. If it is reportable, confirm the responsible person: you, whoever controls the site, or the self-employed person. If it isn't you, tell them in writing and keep a copy. If it is you, report through HSE's RIDDOR reporting service within the deadline and keep the reference. HSE notes that a RIDDOR report is not passed to your insurer, so tell your insurer separately if your policy requires it.
4. Record. File it, reportable or not.
5. Investigate. For anything serious or repeated, look at the site, the task, the equipment, how the work was performed and the factors that shaped it; focus on causes, not blame.
6. Close the loop. Tell the reporter what happened next; people stop reporting if nothing comes back.
7. Spot trends. Review monthly by site, task and type; add it to your weekly ops checklist.

Substitutes' incidents follow the same process; see managing substitutes.

What should you keep on file?

For a reportable incident, HSE's page on what records to keep says to keep a copy of the online report. Otherwise, the record must include "the date and method of reporting; the date, time and place of the event; personal details of those involved; and a brief description of the nature of the event or disease". Under regulation 12(2), the responsible person must keep each entry for at least three years from the date it was made.

For every incident and near miss, keep the report as first given, photos and witness statements, the triage decision, the RIDDOR reference or who else was told, and the actions taken and closing date. Incident records hold personal details and sometimes health information, so limit who can see them. See our record-keeping guide for the wider audit file.

Where do self-employed workforces usually slip up?

• Nobody knows who reports. The operator and the customer each assume the other will, and the deadline passes.
• Incidents told by phone and never logged. A call to a team lead is not a record unless someone writes it down, with the date and who took the call.
• Subcontractor chains. Where work passes through another firm, agree in writing who reports and keeps the record.
• Near misses ignored. Log only injuries and you lose the early warning.

How Zerity helps

Zerity is one operating system for compliance and operations across your self-employed workforce. The incident record sits alongside the rest of the file:

• Incident reports, near misses, risk assessments and training records sit on the driver file. See health and safety.
• Drivers complete walkaround checks on their phone before every shift. See vehicle inspection software and our walkaround check guide.
• During a walkaround check in the driver app, drivers can mark damage and add photos against the vehicle.
• Every licence and policy expiry date is tracked in one place. See document expiry tracking.
• Drivers can report an incident or near miss from the driver app, with the date, time, place and photos.

Deciding whether an incident is reportable, and making the RIDDOR report, stays with the responsible person. Zerity does not decide anyone's employment status. Pricing is from £6 per active driver.

Book a demo to see incident records alongside your documents and vehicle checks.

Common questions

Is RIDDOR for employees only?

No. RIDDOR covers deaths, injuries and dangerous occurrences involving workers, including self-employed people, and members of the public. For a self-employed person hurt on someone else's work premises, the person in control of those premises is usually responsible for reporting.

Does a self-employed person have to report their own injury?

Sometimes. HSE says a self-employed person reports a reportable accident that happens on their own premises or in domestic premises. On someone else's work premises, the person in control of the premises reports, so the self-employed person should make sure they know. If they are injured at premises they own or occupy, they need not make the immediate notification and can arrange for someone else to send the report.

What should an incident reporting procedure include?

Capture at the point of work, triage against HSE's categories, notify the responsible person or HSE within the deadline, record it, investigate serious or repeated incidents, tell the reporter the outcome and review trends monthly. Keep RIDDOR records for at least three years.

Do near misses have to be reported?

Only if they are dangerous occurrences listed in Schedule 2 of RIDDOR. Most near misses are not reportable, but recording them shows where the risks are before anyone is hurt.

Sources

• The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (SI 2013/1471), regulations 3, 4, 5, 6, 12 and 14, legislation.gov.uk.
• HSE, Who should report under RIDDOR and Make a RIDDOR report.
• HSE, Types of reportable incidents, When do I need to report an incident? and Dangerous occurrences.
• HSE, What records do I need to keep? and RIDDOR explained.
• RIDDOR 2013, Schedule 1 (reporting procedure), legislation.gov.uk.
• HSE, Exemptions and Examples of reportable incidents (road traffic section).
• HSE, Self-employed workers.
• Employment status, GOV.UK; HMRC, CEST, GOV.UK.