RIDDOR, the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations, is the UK law requiring employers to report certain workplace incidents to the enforcing authority: specified injuries, occupational diseases, and, notably for manufacturers, dangerous occurrences, near-miss events that could have caused serious harm, many of which are equipment failures. Understanding RIDDOR matters because a large share of reportable dangerous occurrences trace directly to maintenance. Educational overview, not legal advice.
The dangerous-occurrences list is thick with equipment: the failure or collapse of lifting equipment, the failure of a pressure system, the failure of load-bearing parts of machinery, uncontrolled release of substances, electrical short circuits or overloads causing fire. Each is, at root, an asset-integrity event, the exact failures that maintenance and statutory examination regimes (LOLER, pressure systems, electrical) exist to prevent. A RIDDOR-reportable dangerous occurrence is often a maintenance program’s failure made visible, and it is legally reportable whether or not anyone was hurt.
A chain block being used to lift a die fails, dropping the load onto an empty jig; nobody is injured only because the drop zone happened to be clear. This is a dangerous occurrence, the failure of lifting equipment, and it is RIDDOR-reportable despite the lucky absence of injury. The investigation that follows asks the maintenance questions immediately: when was this chain block last thoroughly examined under LOLER, what did the report say, was there a defect and was it acted on? A plant with that evidence can show a system in place and pinpoint what failed; a plant without it faces both the incident and the finding that the equipment’s integrity was not being managed. The near miss is the cheap version of the lesson, and RIDDOR exists to make sure it is not wasted.
RIDDOR reporting is a legal duty on its own, but for equipment-related events the maintenance record is what turns a report into learning: the failed asset’s history, its examination and maintenance record, the defect trail, and the corrective actions that prevent recurrence, exactly the data a failure record and a near-miss program should already be capturing. Well-run plants feed dangerous occurrences straight into their reliability analysis, because a reportable equipment failure is a reliability finding with legal weight.
Fabrico is not a RIDDOR reporting portal and does not make regulatory notifications, that duty sits with the employer and its safety function. What Fabrico provides is the equipment evidence that RIDDOR investigations depend on: the failed asset’s complete maintenance and examination history, the defect-to-fix trail, and the corrective actions logged against it, so a dangerous occurrence can be investigated from records rather than memory, and the recurrence prevention is tracked to closure. It also captures the near-miss and failure data that helps prevent a dangerous occurrence in the first place. EU-built, with EU data residency.
Only if it is one of the specified dangerous occurrences, a defined list of high-potential events, many involving equipment failure. Not every near miss is RIDDOR-reportable, but those on the list must be reported even when no one is injured. Internally, all near misses are still worth capturing for prevention.
The responsible person, usually the employer or those in control of the premises or work, must make the report to the enforcing authority within the required timescales. The maintenance function supports the investigation with equipment evidence but is not typically the notifier.
For equipment-related reports they are central: the asset’s examination and maintenance history, defect records, and corrective actions let the investigation establish what failed and why, demonstrate whether the equipment was being properly managed, and track the actions that prevent recurrence.
Want equipment history ready the moment a dangerous occurrence has to be investigated? Book a Fabrico demo to see failure and maintenance evidence run through a field-ready CMMS.
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