An incident report does three things at once: it records the facts while they are fresh, it decides whether the regulator has to be told, and it turns a bad day into a fix that stops it happening again. This form is laid out in that order, because the order matters. People first, the notifiable check second, the paperwork after.
First, the people and the site
Nothing on the form comes before first aid and making the area safe. Section 1 records what was done, by whom and when, because the quality of the immediate response is often the first thing an inspector asks about.
Is it notifiable? The check that cannot wait
Under the WHS laws, a notifiable incident is a death, a serious injury or illness, or a dangerous incident arising from the business’s work. Serious injuries include those needing immediate treatment as a hospital in-patient, and immediate treatment for injuries such as amputations, serious head or eye injuries, serious burns, spinal injuries and serious lacerations. Dangerous incidents cover events that exposed people to a serious risk even if no one was hurt: the collapse of a structure or an excavation, a fall of materials from height, an electric shock, an uncontrolled fire, explosion or gas leak, and failures of licensed or registered plant.
For a builder, the dangerous-incident list is the one that catches people out. A trench wall that collapses overnight, a pallet of tiles dropped from a crane, a worker who gets a tingle from a lead: none may have hurt anyone, and all may be notifiable.
If it is notifiable, the business must notify the regulator immediately after becoming aware of it, by the fastest means available. If the regulator asks for written notice, it must be given within the period the Act sets. And the site must be preserved until an inspector arrives or says otherwise, with exceptions for helping the injured, removing a deceased person, making the site safe, and assisting police.
Getting the facts down
Record the facts before people leave site. Witness names and phone numbers are the most commonly missing detail in incident files, and the hardest to recover a week later. Describe what happened in order: what was being done, what changed, what happened, what was done next. Write facts, not conclusions. “The ladder moved” is a fact; “he was careless” is not, and it ends the investigation before it starts.
Photos taken before anything is moved, a quick sketch with distances, and the SWMS or JSA that covered the task all belong with the report.
Finding causes you can actually fix
Most incident reports stop at the immediate cause: someone slipped, a tool failed. Section 8 asks for contributing causes, found by asking “why?” until you reach something the business can change. Why did the ladder move? It was on soft ground. Why was a ladder used on soft ground? There was no platform available for side-setback work. Why? It was not in the plan. The fix is in the plan, not the worker.
Corrective actions should work down the hierarchy of control. “Retrain worker” on its own is rarely the right answer. Each action needs an owner and a date, and the report is not closed until they are done.
Near misses count
A near miss is an incident where luck did the work your controls should have done. Recording near misses is the cheapest safety information a business can get, and a crew that sees near-miss reports acted on will report more of them. Share the outcomes at the next toolbox talk.
After the report
- Update the SWMS or JSA if the controls changed. A revised SWMS must be re-briefed to the workers and, on a construction project, given to the principal contractor.
- Tell your insurer as your policy requires. Workers compensation claims are a separate process from the WHS report.
- Keep the records. Notifiable incident records must be kept for the period the WHS Act sets, at least five years under the model laws, and a SWMS connected with a notifiable incident must be kept for at least two years.
- Look for patterns. Three minor incidents with the same cause is a warning, not a coincidence.
For hazards spotted before anything happens, use the hazard report form, and make sure the site emergency plan covers the incidents this form most often records.
A worked example
A labourer carrying a sheet of plasterboard trips on an offcut in the hallway and falls, injuring their wrist. The supervisor gives first aid and drives them to a medical centre, where an x-ray shows a fracture treated in the clinic, not as a hospital in-patient. Using the form:
- Notifiable check: not a death, and not immediate in-patient hospital treatment or one of the listed serious injuries; not a dangerous incident. On those facts, likely not notifiable, but the supervisor records the reasoning and checks the regulator’s guidance if unsure.
- What happened: hallway, level 1, 2.15pm; carrying a full sheet alone; offcuts from the morning’s cutting left on the floor.
- Causes: offcuts not cleared as work progressed; full sheets carried by one person along a cluttered route; no designated cutting area.
- Actions: a cutting area with a bin set up on each level; two-person carries for full sheets; housekeeping added to the daily supervisor check; the incident discussed at the next toolbox talk.
The report took twenty minutes. The actions will prevent the next one.
Talking to the injured worker and witnesses
People remember events differently, and quickly. Talk to the injured worker, once they are cared for, and to witnesses separately, as soon as practicable. Ask open questions: “Tell me what happened from when you picked up the sheet.” Write down what they say in their words and have them read it back. Avoid questions that suggest blame, which make people defensive and hide the real causes.
Look after the people involved, too. A serious incident affects the whole crew. Check on the injured worker during their recovery, plan their return to work with their doctor and your insurer, and make sure witnesses have support if they need it. How a business treats people after an incident shapes whether anyone reports the next one.
