The Real Value of Reporting Health & Safety Incidents

27 November 2025 by CSG

In Great Britain, 59,219 RIDDOR reportable injuries and 124 fatalities were reported to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) during 2024 and 2025. In 2024/25 the estimated cost of injuries and ill health £22.9 billion pounds!

Concerns regarding under reporting are often raised by health and safety practitioners, but we see only a small fraction of the true extent and cost of health and safety to the UK economy, with under-reporting contributing to this imbalance.

Under-reporting in health and safety is where an incident happens but doesn’t get reported. And while under-reporting can make things look better in the short term, it can be a big problem in the long term.

In the waste industry (especially at CSG), we face complex and hazardous environments where honest health & safety reporting can save lives. So we thought that it’s important to explore in more detail what we mean when we talk about Health & Safety reporting, what the risks are of under-reporting and also how we have built a culture of health & safety reporting at our company.

Understanding Health & Safety Reporting

Statutory requirements in the UK places a duty on employers to report certain injuries and dangerous occurrences to the HSE, in addition employers are required to provide an accident book to enable employees to report injuries at work.

Under-reporting can occur at two levels:

1. The organisation, where organisations fail to comply with RIDDOR (Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations).

2. The individual, where employees fail to report incidents to their employer. 

The Real Risks of Under-reporting

There are many reasons why health and safety reporting is important at work. It enables employees to warn colleagues about hazards in the workplace and stops future incidents from occurring. It also enables employers to spot trends to identify areas for improvement.

If hazards in the workplace and incidents don’t get reported, you can’t take action to identify trends and root causes. This increases the likelihood of multiple minor and eventually major incidents occurring. Taking a proactive approach increases near miss and safety observation reporting and directly reduces the likelihood of injuries occurring.

But why don’t people report hazards or incidents? Why do people stay silent when something bad happens?

Here are 6 common reasons for under-reporting in health and safety:

1.    Fear of consequences – Employees may worry they will be blamed or punished for being involved in an incident.

2.    Lack of trust or confidence in management – If employees believe that reports are ignored or not acted upon, they’ll feel it’s pointless to report incidents.

3.    Lack of awareness or training – Employees may not fully understand what needs to be reported.

4.    Workplace culture – Having a “get the job done” attitude can override safety priorities.

5.    Belief that its not serious enough – Workers often self-assess an incident as “minor” or “just part of the job,” especially in industries where small injuries or hazards are common.

6.    Lack of feedback or follow-up – When employees don’t see results or communication after reporting, they assume it’s not worth the effort.

Why More Reports Mean We’re Safer Than Ever

Reporting hazards and health and safety incidents that have happened in the workplace provides organisations with valuable data. It helps them analyse trends and make informed decisions. It also allows them to identify priorities to address hazards in the workplace.

CSG is proud to have grown health and safety engagement year on year. This initially resulted in an increase of injury reporting, but has in turn seen a continued year on year growth in near miss reporting. We see this as a positive change in the culture of reporting at CSG.

When our Health and Safety team reviews incident reports they can identify trends, patterns and recurring issues allowing them to make data-driven decisions. These decisions include consulting with colleagues to revise risks assessments and safety method statements or carrying out relevant training sessions.

Our continuous analysis of safety incidents means that we adopt a proactive approach to health & safety management. This informs our annual health and safety objectives and health and safety initiatives so we can target improvements that have a real and positive impact on colleague safety. Without analysis of incident data there is a danger that objectives provide little impact on reducing injuries in the workplace.

Building a Culture of Reporting at CSG

Our health and safety culture plays a massive role in making sure that Health and Safety reports are made.

We encourage our teams to report their concerns and involve them with health and safety initiatives throughout the year. These include events like our Health and Safety Week, Health and Safety Team of the Year and Driver of the Year initiatives. We want our teams to feel like they are being heard and their problems fixed.

Reporting safety incidents means that our individuals and teams take responsibility for their actions, creating a sense of accountability within the workplace. When incidents are reported investigations can be conducted to understand the root cause and identify any gaps in safety procedures or training. 

Under-reporting might make statistics look more favourable on the surface, but it can actually hide the information that keeps people safe. At CSG, we see every report from major incidents to minor injuries and from safety observations to near misses as an opportunity to learn and prevent future harm. The more we report, the clearer our understanding becomes of the hazards our teams face.

More reporting might in the short term see increases in injury data, but accurate data means more learning, more prevention and more people going home safe at the end of the day.