Department of Justice and Community Safety

INJURIES & DANGEROUS OCCURRENCES - REPORTING

Section 204 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 1989 (the Act) requires employers to report certain events to the Occupational Health and Safety Commissioner.

The objective of this section is to provide preliminary information to the Occupational Health and Safety Commissioner to enable ACT WorkCover to:

investigate serious workplace incidents
collect and analyse data to provide employers with information about where and why accidents happen so that appropriate preventative measures can be taken
identify high-risk areas and develop strategies to reduce work-related injury and disease.

Events Requiring Notification

Where an employer is aware of the occurrence of any of the following events at or near the workplace:

(a) the death of a person
(b) an injury to a person other than an employee of the employer
(c) an injury to an employee as a result of which the employee is incapacitated for work for the prescribed period
(d) a dangerous occurrence

and it is attributable to the conduct of the employer's undertaking at the workplace, notification is required.

The Act places the responsibility for reporting on the employer, and the employer must initially determine if the event is attributable to his or her undertaking. If an inspector later investigates the event and determines that the employer neglected to report, or incorrectly decided that the event was not due to his or her undertaking, the employer can be prosecuted.

Deaths

The employer is required to notify the death of any person at or near the workplace.

Injuries

The Act requires that employers notify the Commissioner of not only physical injuries, but also of work-related illness or disease, or events aggravating injuries or diseases.

All injuries caused to any person who is not an employee must be notified.

An injury to an employee as a result of which the employee is unable to work for any period of 7 days (as prescribed by the regulations) must be notified.

Dangerous Occurrences

The following dangerous occurrences must be notified as prescribed in the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations:

damage to any boiler, pressure vessel, plant, equipment or other thing which endangers or is likely to endanger the health or safety of persons at a workplace
damage to, or failure of, any load bearing member or control device of a crane, hoist, conveyor, lift, escalator, moving walk, plant, scaffolding, gear, amusement device or public stand
an uncontrolled fire, explosion or escape of gas, dangerous goods or steam
any other occurrence involving imminent risk of-

a) fire, explosion or escape of gas, dangerous goods or steam
b) death or serious personal injury to any person
c) substantial damage to property

Notifying an Event

To notify an event to ACT WorkCover complete an "Injury and Dangerous Occurrence Report Form" and forward the form to - ORS WorkCover, GPO Box 158, Canberra City, ACT 2601; or deliver to - 3rd Floor, Callam Offices, Easty Street, WODEN ACT 2606.

Can you fax or phone in details?

Yes. You can fax a photocopy of the Report Form (it will fit on 2 A4 sheets) to 6205 0336 or phone details to 6205 0200. When notifying by phone or facsimile, you must ensure you receive and record the report number given to you by ACT WorkCover. This report number needs to be kept with your records of the details reported to ACT WorkCover.

You must keep a copy of any Injury and Dangerous Occurrence Report that you send to us, and a record of all less serious workplace injuries or illnesses (those leading to an absence of one day or more), for at least 5 years. You must let an inspector from ACT WorkCover see these records if he or she asks for them. You may be prosecuted and fined for failing to do so.

Is there a time limit for reporting?

If an accident has caused the death of a person or serious bodily injury, you should notify ACT WorkCover as soon as possible by phone or other practical means.

Injury and Dangerous Occurrence Report Forms must be submitted as soon as practicable but not later than 7 days after the event.

Workcover