Hazard and incident reporting allows everybody to report not only injuries and accidents that have happened, but also preventative incidents such as near misses and safety observations.
All workplace incidents should be reported, documented, and investigated.
This includes any situation in which:
- an employee was injured or died
- property or equipment damage occurred
- an employee became ill while at work due to a possible reaction of workplace conditions
- any other person (not an employee) was injured or became ill as a possible result of actions caused by the company or an employee
- an employee was in a motor vehicle accident while driving for their job
- a near-miss occurred that could have resulted in injury, death, or property damage
Every workplace should also have a hazard reporting program in place. If an employee has knowledge of or sees any potentially unsafe workplace situation, they must be provided a way to report the hazard to management.
Why is incident reporting so important?
- Incident reporting provides a process in which the situation can be corrected in order to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.
- It is impossible to create improved processes that will protect the workers if management is not aware of the problems occurring in the workplace that may cause or have already caused injury or property damage.
- Prompt medical attention may be needed to ensure a minor injury doesn’t become worse, develop into an infection or become life-threatening.
- When a minor incident or a near miss is ignored (not reported), the workplace is at an even greater risk for an even more serious incident to occur in the future because the hazard or dangerous practice was never provided a chance to be corrected.
- Documenting all incidents allows a company to track patterns, realise trends, and discover anomalies.
- Corrections implemented to solve a safety hazard or prevent an incident can be translated into process and production improvements.
- Companies can protect themselves from undue lawsuits with completed incident reports. Without a complete record of what actually happened, there is not much the company can provide in defense, if needed.
- Reporting a near miss or a minor incident comes at a lower cost than the price of a major injury, equipment failure, fatality or significant property damage.
- Feedback from incidents that are reported provides a way to encourage employee participation in the workplace safety improvement strategies.
- Incident reporting is a key habit that creates a stronger safety culture.
What is a near miss?
A near miss is an incident that didn’t result in any personal injury but had the potential and risk to do so. Near misses are very important indicators of potentially harmful future events. They are valuable warning signs that allow us to identify and eliminate uncontrolled hazards.
When should an incident be reported?
All incidents, near-misses and injuries should be reported immediately. The incident reporting process will determine the follow-up required. The employee should not have to take a guess as to whether their 'issue or incident” is worthy of an incident report. If in doubt, file an incident report. For more information around notifiable incident criteria, visit https://www.worksafe.vic.gov.au/report-incident-criteria-notifiable-incidents
How do employees know about incident reporting?
All employees should be trained on the incident reporting process for their company. Ideally, training is included in the on-boarding process for every employee. Another approach is to have the safety manual, with incident reporting included, be required reading for all employees the first week on the job. Throughout the year, holding periodic safety meetings on the hazard, near-miss, and incident reporting processes is always a great idea and encourages employee participation in the workplace safety program.
How should an incident be reported?
Every company’s reporting process is different. Some companies may require employees to report directly to HR or their immediate supervisor to file a report. Others may have a very convenient online reporting system that employees can access through their company’s intranet. Typically, and at minimum, a company should provide a standard incident report form that every employee knows how to locate and any employee can complete and submit.
Safety is a shared responsibility.
Everyone is responsible for safety in the workplace and has a duty of care regardless of their position or title. Employers should have a systematic approach and comprehensive process for managing hazards and minimising the risk of safety related incidents. Open and honest communication is essential for confronting safety issues head on, and prevention is always better than treatment. We should all feel comfortable reporting and discussing any issues or concerns. Reporting is in no way an admission of guilt or error, but rather a method of identifying potential problems and an opportunity for learning and allowing management to adopt improved safety precautions. There should never be any punishment associated with an employee submitting an incident report, as this could deter others from doing the right thing.
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