Report an accident at work

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

Report an injury

Report a dangerous event

Report a case of disease

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.

Health and Safety Executive: Reporting accidents and incidents at work (PDF, 314KB)