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Reporting notifiable accidents

17 Sep Reporting notifiable accidents

Posted at 09:28h in Business Processes by

What are your obligations to report notifiable accidents?

  1. Firstly, understand what constitutes a reportable Notification Event (for a condensed version of Notifiable Events, contact Hasmate to discuss).
  2. Your responsibility is to report all Notifiable Events to WorkSafe NZ – phone 0800 030 040 as soon as you become aware of it.
  3. All accident scenes involving Notifiable Events must be isolated and controlled until clearance has been given by WorkSafe NZ.
  4. When you ring WorkSafe NZ, their representative will ask you for details of the event. From this information, they will decide and inform you if you are required to send them a Notifiable Event Notification Form. This form is available on the WorkSafe NZ website and completed online (click here).
  5. If it’s a serious accident, WorkSafe NZ will notify their local office who will send a warranted inspector to your worksite.

In the event that any of the injuries or illnesses as defined in section 23 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 occur, they must be reported as soon as possible to WorkSafe NZ.

Our Recommendations for After An Accident

Following any accident (notifiable or not), we recommend the following actions:

Don’t Panic

Take a minute to take a breath before continuing.

Gathering Evidence

Take photographs of the accident to ensure you gain the maximum effect. Stand in one point and pan your photos. Do not forget to activate the date and time feature on your camera.

WorkSafe NZ Investigation

If this is to occur, this will be thorough, and you will be required to supply some of the following evidence to prove the company’s due diligence to health and safety management.

  1. The employees’ employment agreement;
  2. Employment records;
  3. Induction records;
  4. Hazard register and the risk rating for the hazard;
  5. Any training procedures or Safe Operating Procedures (SOP);
  6. Records of training with signatures and dates of training;
  7. The associated hazard review records;
  8. Health and Safety Meeting records;
  9. 6-12 months maintenance records of the equipment (if any);
  10. Accident/incident register;
  11. Register of corrective and preventive actions taken by the business for other incidents/accidents and more;
  12. Accident/Incident reporting system.

Witness Statements

This is an important part of your accident/investigation process. To ensure that this is non-threatening and fair:

  1. Develop a process with a generic set of questions;
  2. Ensure that any witnesses can read and write;
  3. Carry out the witness recording as soon as possible after the accident;
  4. Separate the witnesses so there is no possibility of collusion; and
  5. Ask them to sign and date their statements.

Investigation

Although there is no requirement of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 to carry out an accident investigation, it is recommended that you do to identify areas of the business to improve its processes, but more importantly to implement actions to mitigate the risk of the accident from reoccurring.

Your business should have documented procedures and trained personnel to carry out the investigation. It is recommended that a senior manager is involved in the investigation process.

Although a workplace accident is a negative in the scheme of things, always keep an open mind and treat it as an opportunity to improve the business.

When conducting interviews with the injured employee or others involved, always:

  1. Have another manager present at the meeting;
  2. Inform the interviewee that they can bring a support person to the meeting;
  3. Listen and don’t be judgmental. Record all the facts;
  4. Important questions to ask are:
    • How could this have been prevented?
    • What can be done to improve the working situation?
    • What would they do differently?
  5. When you have completed the interview, read out your recorded notes and get them to verify them as correct by getting the signature of the interviewee and their witness on the documented record, as well as your own and your witness.

Note. If you are not prepared to action their concerns or ideas for improvement – don’t ask the questions. It will be the company’s loss if you don’t.

The cost of accidents

This is an important component of accident investigations that is too often overlooked, yet can make the difference in making improvements for the future.

If you are a company or health and safety manager, you will or should be asked the question about the cost of the accident at a future senior management meeting, so be prepared for it. This will be an interesting exercise and I am sure you will be surprised at the true cost.

The reality is that this is a cost that directly impacts the bottom line of the business and could make the difference between a profit or a loss for the year’s trading.

Take care of the victim/s

It is important that the business has in place a process to take care of and to communicate with the victim/s, their families, and other employees affected by the accident.

What has the business done to assist the victims? This is a question that is often asked and taken into consideration by the courts when imposing prosecution fines.

Conclusion and cost considerations

The question is, how well prepared is your business? Could this happen to you and at what cost? If you require assistance, procedures, or safe operating procedures to mitigate the risk of an event like this, contact Hasmate today.