Report an accident, incident or hazard

Accident

An accident is an unplanned event or incident that causes or contributes to personal injury.

All accidents and incidents must be investigated and where possible corrective actions taken. The amount of information that needs to be gathered will vary with the seriousness of the accident or incident, or the potential seriousness of what could have been the outcome.

Incident

An unplanned event which has the potential to cause injury, ill health to people or damage to property and the environment.

A notifiable incident means:

• the death of a person
• a serious injury or illness of a person
• a dangerous incident

What is a serious injury or illness

A serious injury or illness means an injury or illness requiring a person to have:

• immediate treatment as an in-patient in a hospital
• immediate treatment for:
  • a serious head injury
  • a serious eye injury
  • a serious burn
  • the separation of skin from an underlying tissue (such as degloving or scalping
  • a spinal injury
  • the loss of a bodily function
  • a serious laceration
• medical treatment within 48 hours of exposure to a substance

What is a dangerous incident

A dangerous incident is where any person is exposed to a serious result resulting from an immediate or 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
• 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
• the interruption of the main system of ventilation in an underground excavation or tunnel.

All hazards, incidents and injuries must be reported to the relevant University manager or supervisor as soon as reasonably possible.

Managers and supervisors are required to use FlinSafe to formally record hazards, incidents and injuries relating to University activities. Records can be created on behalf of others, including students, contractors or visitors.

All incidents must be formally recorded within 24 hours of the incident occuring. 

The following is the procedure for a definite or suspected notifiable incident.

Download the flowchart or see the steps below.

The supervisor or manager of the person injured (or of the area where the incident occurred if there was no injury) is responsible for conducting the initial investigation, except in the case of notifiable incidents.

For more detail, see Accident, Incident and Hazard Reporting and Investigation Procedures.

Notifiable Incidents

Notifiable incidents must be reported immediately to Security or the Associate Director, WHS, who will report the incident to the appropriate Regulator.

Note - special provisions around preservation of site apply to Notifiable Incidents. Please see this section for further details. All Notifiable Incidents will be investigated by the WHS Unit.

All other accidents or incidents

When a staff member, student or other person reports an accident or incident on the online FlinSafe system, the supervisor or manager will receive an email advising them of the accident/incident and asking them to take action.

The manager or supervisor is then responsible for conducting an initial investigation of the accident/incident and recording this information in FlinSafe. This investigation should be conducted as soon as possible after the accident or incident as this means the conditions of the area at the time can be observed and witnesses can be identified.

For more detail on the purpose of the investigation and documenting the investigation findings, see Accident, Incident and Hazard Reporting and Investigation Procedures.

Emergency &/ or immediate corrective actions

Emergency corrective actions sometimes will be required e.g.  evacuation of an area, barricading, isolation of services, dealing with a chemical spill. In these instances Security must be notified and the details recorded on FlinSafe.

Immediate corrective actions may include removing the tripping hazard e.g. the cords, wipe up the spilt water, tagging out the equipment. These should also be recorded.

Non - emergency corrective actions

If the issue is a non-emergency building, infrastructure maintenance or grounds matter, the recommended corrective action(s) should be logged on the BPRS system. This BPRS number should be crossed referenced in the FlinSafe system. 

All other corrective actions need to be recorded in the FlinSafe system, including who is responsible for completing the corrective action and a time line for completion. An automatic email will be sent to the person responsible for the corrective action and a reminder email is sent if the due date has past. The person responsible for the corrective action must record their actions, attach any evidence (e.g. new risk assessment) and close-off the corrective action when completed.

Role of managers/supervisors

Managers/supervisors need to:

• Track and monitor the implementation of agreed corrective/preventative actions; and
• Discuss, monitor and evaluate controls for effectiveness, in consultation with workers in the affected area and any other relevant person(s).

A situation, thing or an environment that has the potential to cause harm to a person or damage to property or equipment

Staff and students must report any hazards that pose a risk to personal health or safety of which they have become aware.

Where hazards can be fixed immediately to provide a safe outcome and in a way that poses no danger to anyone, this should be done (e.g. wipe up of spill, remove cables from floor).

Where the hazard cannot be fixed immediately, workers the supervisor/manager of the area must be notified.

Hazards that are related to building or infrastructure and are not related to an accident/incident can be reported directly on Service One.

All other hazards should be reported in the hazard section of the FlinSafe system and have relevant corrective actions assigned to a responsible person.

Any person may draw a safety matter to the attention of the area supervisor or the elected health and safety representative.

If a supervisor is unable to resolve a WHS problem, then they should seek advice from the WHS Unit.

Immediate risk to health or safety

Where an immediate risk to health or safety is perceived, and the issue is considered urgent and serious then workers or students should:

• Raise the issue directly with the supervisor of the area who should call an immediate halt to the work whilst the issue is investigated.
• When reasonably practicable to do so and where available for the work area,  the Health and Safety Representatives (HSR) must also be consulted.
• If the supervisor does not agree about the degree of risk present or the supervisor is not available, the elected Health and Safety Representatives (HSR) can direct the cessation of unsafe work when they believe there is an imminent risk to health or safety.
• The HSR must immediately inform the appropriate manager of the area and the Associate Director, WHS Unit (or delegate) of the actions that have been taken.
• Work will not resume until it has been agreed that the hazard has been controlled and no longer presents an unacceptable risk to health and safety. Alternative duties may be found for those workers affected, but no pay will be lost in the event of a demonstrated safety hazard having been detected.
• The hazard must be reported into FlinSafe to allow reporting to the relevant College/Portfolio and University Health and Safety Committee to ensure an adequate investigation has been completed and corrective actions implemented.
• Further information about the powers of HSR’s and Resolving Health and Safety Issues can be found in the health and safety resolution flow chart.

Resolving health and safety issues where there is no immediate risk to the health or safety

The primary and most effective mechanism for consultation on health and safety matters is by informal direct dialogue between managers/ supervisors and the workers and others that are under their supervision.

Where this does not provide a resolution the Health and Safety Representative (HSR) for that work area can be approached to represent the workers in matters relating to health and safety with the manager/ supervisor. Where this does not provide a resolution then the HSR should follow  the University consultation mechanisms - health and safety resolution flow chart.