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Workplace Accidents & Incident Reports

Health & Safety

21 May 2025 (Last updated 3 Dec 2025)

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Despite employer efforts to remove workplace health and safety risks as far as is reasonably practical, the reality is that, unfortunately, accidents do happen from time-to-time. When accidents do occur, it is vital employers learn from these incidents and take reasonable steps to reduce the risk of injury, illness and fatality in the future. This is done by keeping records of every workplace accident that occurs, regardless of how serious.

While most work-related incidents are minor and isolated to the business itself – without intervention from outside medical experts or law enforcement – these events will still need to be documented and carefully reviewed. Serious accidents must also be reported to WorkSafe New Zealand.

Do all incidents need to be reported?

Yes.

Any accident that poses a risk to personnel or property, or requires medical attention and/or a police investigation, needs to be reported. Whether the incident happens to a permanent employee, agency worker, contractor, visitor or customer – the event must be documented.

The most common accident records are about instances that involve:

  • motor vehicle accidents
  • equipment failure
  • electric shocks
  • death
  • any incident that requires immediate closure of some or all sections of the workplace
  • outbreak of diseases
  • toxic fumes or explosive conditions
  • missing workers or unexplained absences
  • bomb threats
  • presence of firearms and weapons
  • serious threats made against someone
  • sieges or hostage situations
  • fires and bushfires
  • near-misses of serious injury or death

Why should employers report incidents?  

Recording work related accidents is a legal requirement.

Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, employers must have records for all work-related accidents and take reasonable steps to resolve the cause for the future. By having this information in an easy to understand format, employers can identify the problem and make necessary changes to reduce the risk of injury, fatality and illness.

Any changes to workplace procedures must be communicated to employees. Employees should also receive hands-on training to ensure they can perform the new procedures correctly. If new technology or machinery has been introduced to solve a workplace issue, this must be operated correctly and maintained according to manufacturer specifications.

What should be recorded?

An accident report is a vital source of information used to find out the cause of an accident. It also helps a business improve its workplaces procedures to make the environment safer for employees, customers and visitors.

To ensure the accident report meets legislative requirements, it needs to include:

  • the employee’s name and date of birth
  • position in the company or name of contractor company
  • extent of the injuries or illness
  • date and time of the accident
  • brief description of what happened
  • where the accident occurred
  • what caused the accident

For record-keeping purposes, accident records should be stored in a secure location and be accessible to employers at all times. This is particularly important if the business changes hands or there is a change in employers or management.

There are also more specific types of incident reports to categorize different types of incidents. These include near miss reports, injury and lost time incident reports, exposure incident reports, and sentinel event reports.

Sentinel events

In New Zealand, sentinel events are serious, unexpected occurences involving death or severe harm, or the risk thereof, within the health and disability sector. A sentinel event triggers a mandatory investigation to analyze what happened and prevent it from happening again.

Does WorkSafe need to be notified of an accident?

Only serious events are intended to be notified. If an employee has a serious or fatal injury, or there is a notifiable illness in the workplace, this must be reported to WorkSafe New Zealand for investigation. WorkSafe will then investigate the workplace and review the company’s previous accident records. If an employer is found to have an unsafe workplace, has failed to keep accurate accident records, or it is discovered the injury has happened before and the safety issue was not addressed, the employer risks steep fines.

The notifiable incident, injury, illness or death must arise from the conduct of the business or undertaking. It could be due to the condition of the work site, the way the work activity is organised, or the way equipment or substances are used. Notifiable events may happen inside or outside the actual work site.

Deaths, injuries or illnesses that are unrelated to work are not notifiable events, for example:

  • a diabetic worker slipping into a coma at work
  • a worker being injured driving to work in their private car when the driving is not done as part of their work
  • injuries to patients or rest home residents that are triggered by a medical reason, for example, injuries from a fall caused by stroke
  • a worker fainting from a non-work related cause

Notifiable incidents

A notifiable incident is an unplanned or uncontrolled work-related incident that exposes the health and safety of workers or others to a serious risk arising from immediate or imminent exposure to:

  • a substance escaping, spilling, or leaking
  • an implosion, explosion or fire
  • gas or steam escaping
  • a pressurised substance escaping
  • electric shock from anything that could cause a lethal shock. For example, it would not include shocks due to static electricity, from extra low voltage equipment or from defibrillators used for medical reasons
  • the fall or release from height of any plant, substance or thing
  • damage to or collapse, overturning, failing or malfunctioning of any plant that is required to be authorised for use under regulations
  • the collapse or partial collapse of a structure
  • the collapse or failure of an excavation or any shoring supporting an excavation
  • the inrush of water, mud, or gas in workings in an underground excavation or tunnel
  • the interruption of the main system of ventilation in an underground excavation or tunnel
  • a collision between two vessels, a vessel capsize, or the inrush of water into a vessel

For advice on how to effectively report accidents in the workplace, contact Peninsula.

This article is for general information purposes only and does not constitute as business or legal advice and should not be relied upon as such. It does not take into consideration your specific business, industry or circumstances. You should seek legal or other professional advice regarding matters as they relate to you or your business. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Peninsula Group 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, and reliability of the information in this article.

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