RIDDOR is changing: what the 2026 reform proposes, and how to get ahead of it
The HSE has just closed a consultation on the biggest overhaul of RIDDOR since 2013, tripling the list of reportable diseases and rewriting definitions that have confused employers for a decade. Here is what is proposed, and what smart employers are doing before the rules land.
- Written by
- The jobsafe team
- Published
- Reading time
- 7 min read
RIDDOR has barely moved since 2013. That is about to change. On 7 April 2026 the Health and Safety Executive opened a public consultation on reforming the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (the first wholesale revisit in over a decade), and it closed on 30 June 2026. The headline proposal more than triples the list of reportable occupational diseases. If your teams work with dust, noise or fibrous materials, your reporting obligations are very likely about to grow.
- 6 → 19 proposed reportable occupational diseases
- 9 previously removed diseases set to return
- 4 conditions reportable for the first time
- 30 June 2026 consultation closed; response awaited
Why the HSE is reopening RIDDOR
Two pressures have been building. The first is occupational disease: the 2013 reforms cut the reportable disease list hard, and the HSE has been criticised ever since for flying blind on long-latency conditions, most visibly the resurgence of silicosis linked to engineered-stone worktops, which prompted new enforcement measures on respirable silica dust in May 2026. The second is clarity: a decade of case law and inspector experience has shown which RIDDOR definitions employers consistently get wrong, and the consultation proposes rewriting the ambiguous ones.
What the consultation proposes
A much longer disease list
The list of reportable occupational diseases would grow from six conditions to nineteen. Nine diseases removed in 2013 return, including asbestosis, pneumoconiosis (which covers silicosis) and beryllium-related lung and skin disease. Four conditions become reportable for the first time, including noise-induced hearing loss, bronchiolitis obliterans and occupational allergic rhinitis.
More people able to diagnose
Today a disease only becomes reportable once a GMC-registered doctor has diagnosed it in writing. The HSE proposes widening this to other registered healthcare practitioners, which would remove a bottleneck, and mean diagnoses reach the reporting threshold sooner and more often.
Clearer definitions, revised dangerous occurrences
The consultation also proposes clarifying terminology that has proven ambiguous in practice, and revising the schedule of dangerous occurrences (the high-potential near misses that must be reported even when nobody is hurt) to better reflect modern workplace risk.
What this means for employers
- More reports, from more trades. Construction, stone and concrete work, foundries, manufacturing and any noisy environment should expect conditions they currently only record internally (if at all) to become legally reportable.
- Health surveillance becomes reporting-critical. If noise-induced hearing loss becomes reportable, audiometry results stop being a private occupational-health matter and start feeding a legal duty.
- Exposure records matter more. A disease report invites the obvious question: what was the exposure, when, and what did you do about it? Historic incident and near-miss records are the answer, if you have them.
When would the rules change?
Nothing has changed yet. The consultation closed on 30 June 2026; the HSE is now analysing responses, and amended regulations are widely anticipated to follow, with commentators pointing to around 2027. Until then, RIDDOR 2013 applies exactly as it stands. But regulatory change of this shape rewards employers who move early, because disease reporting exposes the history of your record-keeping, not just its present.
Get ahead of itThe employers this reform will hurt are the ones whose exposure history lives in memory and filing cabinets. Start now: capture every incident, near miss and health concern digitally, with dates, locations and photos attached, and the expanded list becomes an administrative update rather than a scramble.
That is the boring, decisive advantage of a system like jobsafe: every report your teams raise today (the dust complaint, the missing extraction, the noise concern) is timestamped, located and audit-ready years before anyone asks for it. See how reports are raised in seconds, and make sure your accident records meet the current rules while you are at it.
Sources and further reading
- HSE Media Centre, consultation on workplace injury and illness reporting (7 April 2026) (opens in new tab)
- HSE, RIDDOR overview (opens in new tab)
- DLA Piper, HSE consultation on RIDDOR reform (opens in new tab)
- Clyde & Co, proposed reform and expansion of RIDDOR (opens in new tab)
- British Safety Council, HSE proposes major overhaul to RIDDOR (opens in new tab)
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