Workplace Accidents & Incident Reports
According to research from Safe Work Australia, over 1,165,100 workers have made a serious workers’ compensation claim in the last ten years. At Peninsula, we believe that it is important that staff and employers work together to take reasonable steps to improve workplace health and safety, reduce work-related injuries, and to maintain a consistent record of each work-related injury as they occur in the form of incident reports as part of the workplace accident records.
In this guide, we discuss incident reports and accident records, things to include, and keeping your workplace safe for all employees. It's important to note that incident reporting will differ according to the state or territory in which you are based. For more information or advice, consult a workplace health and safety professional.
Notifiable incidents
You may not be able to prevent accidents from happening at work but, if they do happen, you must handle them in a manner that satisfies your obligations. As a person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU), you must notify your WHS regulator when serious injuries, illnesses and dangerous accidents happen at work. These are referred to as ‘notifiable incidents’.
A notifiable workplace incident is any event that exposes a worker or any other person to a serious risk to that person’s health or safety, and it requires the relevant health and safety regulator to be notified. It may also include a ‘near miss’ where no actual injury occurs. Under the various Work Health and Safety (WHS) Acts (2011/2012), other than Victoria, a notifiable incident means:
The death of a person.
A serious injury or illness of a person or
A dangerous incident, arising out of a conduct of a business or undertaking at a workplace.
For example, according to the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW) a serious injury or illness of a person that requires the Workplace Health and Safety Authority, SafeWork NSW, to be notified immediately is an illness or injury that requires:
Immediate medical treatment in a hospital.
Immediate treatment for:
The amputation of a persons’ body part.
Serious head injury.
Serious eye injury.
Major burn.
Separation of skin from underlying tissue.
Spinal injury.
Loss of certain bodily functions.
Serious lacerations.
Medical treatment within 48 hours of exposure to a substance.
You must also review the incident to find out whether there are steps you could take to stop it from happening again. A serious injury, or risk to plant and equipment, will need a more in-depth health and safety investigation.
Serious illnesses or injury
Notification is also required for the following illnesses:
Any infection where the work is a significant contributing factor. This includes any infection related to carrying out work:
with micro-organisms.
that involves providing care or treatment to a person.
that involves handling or contact with animals, animal hides, skins, wool or hair, animal carcasses or animal waste products.
The following occupational zoonoses contracted in the course of work involving handling or contact with animals, animal hides, skins, wool or hair, animal carcasses or animal waste products:
Q fever.
Anthrax.
Leptospirosis.
Brucellosis.
Hendra Virus.
Avian Influenza.
Psittacosis.
‘Zoonosis’ is any disease or infection transmissible from vertebrate animals to humans. Zoonoses comprise a large percentage of new and existing diseases in humans.
Dangerous incidents
Some types of work-related incidents must be reported even if no one is injured. The regulator must be notified of any incident in relation to a workplace that exposes any person to a serious risk resulting from an immediate and imminent exposure to:
An uncontrolled escape, spillage, or leakage of a substance.
An uncontrolled implosion, explosion or fire.
An uncontrolled escape of gas or steam.
An uncontrolled escape of a pressurised substance.
Electric shock.
Examples of electrical shock that are not notifiable
Shock due to static electricity.
‘Extra low voltage’ shock (i.e. arising from electrical equipment less than or equal to 50V AC and less than or equal to 120V DC).
Defibrillators are used deliberately to shock a person for first aid or medical reasons.
Examples of electrical shocks that are notifiable
Minor shock resulting from direct contact with exposed live electrical parts (other than ‘extra low voltage’) including shock from capacitive discharge.
The fall or release from a height of any plant, substance, or thing
The collapse, overturning, failure or malfunction of, or damage to, any plant that is required to be design or item registered under the Work Health and Safety Regulations, for example a collapsing crane.
The collapse or partial collapse of a structure.
The collapse or failure of an excavation or of any shoring supporting an excavation.
The inrush of water, mud or gas in workings, in an underground excavation or tunnel, or
The interruption of the main system of ventilation in an underground excavation or tunnel.
Key things to consider in an incident report
To be considered a ‘notifiable incident’, an incident must arise out of the conduct of the business or undertaking. An incident is not notifiable simply because it happens at or near a workplace.
Incidents or accidents may happen for reasons which have nothing to do with the work or the conduct of the business or undertaking, for example:
A worker or another person suffers a heart attack while at work which is unrelated to work or the conduct of the business or undertaking.
An amateur athlete is injured while playing for the local soccer team and requires immediate attention (this is not work).
A person driving to work is injured in a car accident (where driving is not part of their work).
A person with epilepsy has a seizure at work.
These kinds of incidents are not notifiable.
Immediate steps after an Incident
The WHS law requires:
A ‘notifiable incident’ to be reported to the regulator immediately after becoming aware it has happened.
If the regulator asks- written notification within the 48 hours of the request, and
The incident site to be preserved until an inspector arrives or directs otherwise (subject to some exceptions).
Things to include in an incident report
Generally, you are obligated to complete an incident report form for every incident however minor and keep a record of every workplace accident (called a ‘Register of Injuries’ in NSW). At a minimum, this must always be available, and each report should contain the following information:
Name of injured worker/s.
Worker’s occupation or job title at the time of the injury.
Worker’s age at the time of the injury.
Time and date of injury.
The nature of the industry in which the injury was sustained.
Exact location of the worker at the time of injury.
Exact description of how the injury was sustained (cause).
If any treatment was provided to the injured, and if so, what kind of treatment.
Nature of injury and the body part/s affected.
Names of people who witnessed the incident take place.
Date of entry in the register.
Name of person making the entry.
Anyone injured at work, including direct worker, agency employee, contractor, customer or visitor, must complete an incident report or be noted on the register of injuries. Always store personal data carefully in line with privacy, and health and safety legislation.
How to notify
You must notify the regulator immediately after becoming aware of the ‘notifiable incident.’ The notification should be done by the fastest possible means, which could be by telephone or by writing, for example an email or online (if available).
As a business owner, you should have clear internal systems and communication methods to ensure health and safety incidents are promptly managed according to the law. You should have a clear and documented policy for the procedure to follow in such cases and the person responsible for it. Your health and safety policy should also include these steps.
If it is a serious incident, as well as calling the emergency services, you should notify the health and safety authority in your State or Territory immediately, in accordance with the relevant Workplace Health and Safety Legislation. Please note the information below is mainly based on the model Workplace Health and Safety legislation, and that in NSW. As such, you should consider seeking professional advice that is specific to your circumstances.
Investigating a workplace incident
Not all workplace incidents are serious enough to warrant an investigation. Once an incident report has been sent to the relevant work health and safety regulator, they will assess the following factors to determine if they should carry out an incident investigation:
Severity, or potential severity of the incident.
Number of people involved in the incident.
Level of risk.
Complexity of the situation and amount of factors involved.
If the incident is serious enough, once you have notified the Workplace Health and Safety Authority you must make sure the incident site is not disturbed, unless you need to remove the injured person or make the site safe.
This is because the local supervisor or manager – in cooperation with an expert from the relevant work health and safety regulator – must carry out a formal incident investigation procedure to:
Determine all contributing factors to the incident – whether it was an accident, near-miss, or a hazard.
Record all relevant details about the incident to support an insurance claim, workers’ compensation claim, or common law proceeding.
Comply with the applicable legislative requirements.
Implement changes to eliminate or reduce the risk of the same incident happening again.
You should notify your workers compensation insurer once you have notified the emergency services (if applicable), the workplace health and safety authority, and the site has been secured.
During the investigation you must, at a minimum, collect relevant information from anyone who was involved in the incident. While you may receive some of this information in the incident report form, you will need to conduct face-to-face interviews so you can piece together the sequence of events that led to the incident.
After you collect this information, you must uncover the cause of the incident and come up with reasonable recommendations to address the contributing factors of the incident to eliminate or reduce the risk of further injury. If the injured worker has filed a workers compensation claim, you will also be required to support the injured worker in their recovery and return to work.
Identifying workplace hazards
Workplace health and safety accidents can have a negative impact on a business in many ways. They can result in a loss of productivity, reduced staff morale, increased absenteeism, and even temporary or permanent closure.
In order to figure out the cause of an incident, and to make appropriate changes to eliminate or reduce the chance of the same incident happening again, you need to perform a risk assessment at the incident site.
While the nature of a workplace risk can vary from place-to-place, the most common types of hazards at work include:
Physical hazards: Slips, trips and falls, vibration and noise.
Ergonomic hazards: Certain body movements that result in harm to the musculoskeletal system. This may include repetitive movement, manual handling and poor posture.
Biological hazards: Exposure to dangerous and infectious organic substances like bacteria and viruses.
Chemical hazards: Exposure to hazardous substances found in the workplace. Common types of hazardous chemicals include neurotoxins, immune agents, asthmagens, and carcinogens.
Psychosocial hazards: Psychosocial hazards are factors in the design or management of work that increase the risk of work-related stress. If left unaddressed, psychosocial hazards can lead to employees suffering psychological or physical harm.
By assessing the risk site and using the information you collected from all parties involved, you will be able to identify the hazards and evaluate the risks, and then implement the right control measures to minimise the risk of serious injury and illness.
You should also have a health and safety policy at work that clearly outlines all these procedures and terms, so all employees are aware of it.
If you need to understand your responsibility around incident reports and accidents at the workplace, we can help you. Peninsula has helped thousands of businesses and employers in Australia to implement health and safety measures, policies and training. For peace of mind, contact our expert team for free initial advice.
The information in the above article has been compiled on the basis of general information current at the time of publication. Please note that the contents of this article and website and any information provided by our Fair Work Help Line do not constitute legal advice and are not intended to be a substitute for legal or other professional advice and should not be relied upon as such. Your specific circumstances or changes in circumstances after publication may affect the completeness or accuracy of this information. You should seek legal advice or other professional advice in relation to any particular matters you or your organisation may have. To the maximum extent permitted by law, we disclaim all liability for any errors or omissions contained in this information or any failure to update or correct this information. It is your responsibility to assess and verify the accuracy, completeness, currency and reliability of the information on this website, and to seek professional advice where necessary. Nothing contained on this website is to be interpreted as a recommendation to use any product, process or formulation or any information on this website. For clarity, Peninsula does not recommend any material, products or services of any third parties.
