Notifiable incidents under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004

Amputation is the severing of the whole or part of a limb or body part, for example, an ear, finger, arm, foot or leg. Amputation may occur at the time of the incident or due to surgery immediately after.

A serious head injury may include:

• scalping
• a penetrating injury to the skull
• a fractured nose, jaw or skull
• loss of consciousness caused by a severe blow to the head
• the loss or fracture of a tooth
• burn to the skull because of chemicals, hot metal, liquid, radiation or steam
• injury to the ear or ear drum.

A serious eye injury may include:

• temporary or permanent loss of sight of an eye
• a penetrating injury to an eye
• a burn to the eye because of chemicals or hot metal, liquid, radiation or steam.

Separation of skin is the removal of skin from the underlying tissue. These injuries are often referred to as ‘scalping’ or ‘degloving’. It can also include a burn that penetrates the skin. 

Scalping is the removal of skin from the upper part of the head and can include hair, muscles and veins etc.

Degloving is the tearing off, by injury, of the skin of a:

• finger
• hand
• forearm
• arm
• leg or
• foot

in a way similar to taking off a glove.

Electric shock happens when a person becomes part of an electrical circuit and the current flows through their body.

Depending on the length and severity of the electric shock, injuries can include:

• burns to the skin
• burns to internal tissues
• electrical interference or damage (or both) to the heart, which could cause the heart to stop or beat erratically.

For the purposes of incident notification, it does not include:

• shock from static electricity
• shock from defibrillators used deliberately to shock a person for first aid or medical reasons.

A spinal injury may include:

• a fracture of the spine with or without any limb weakness or paralysis
• damage to the spinal cord, nerves or nerve fibres.

For the purposes of incident notification, muscular injuries are not considered spinal injuries.

Loss of a bodily function may include such things as:

• a loss of consciousness, brain damage or, cognitive function
• loss of movement of a limb, for example, from fracturing a bone
• loss of the sense of smell, taste, sight or hearing
• loss of function of an internal organ.

A serious laceration may include one or more deep or extensive cuts, punctures, tears or wounds to flesh or tissue. There is no minimum depth or number of stitches required for it to be defined as a ‘serious laceration’.

The immediate medical treatment required may include:

• stitching, gluing or staples to prevent loss of blood
• other treatment to prevent loss of bodily function and/or infection.

An employer is a person who employs one or more other people under contracts of employment or contracts of training.

An employer can be:

• an individual
• a company
• a body corporate, a partnership, an unincorporated association, a franchising operation or a not-for-profit organisation, in the private or public sector.

More than one employer may have a duty to notify WorkSafe of an incident. For example, a principal contractor and a subcontractor are both employers if they employ one or more people. They both then have a duty to notify WorkSafe of incidents at a workplace under their management and control.

A self-employed person is a person who is not an employer, who works for gain or reward but not under a contract of employment or training. For example, a sole trader.

Note: You do not need to notify WorkSafe if you (the employer or self-employed person) are the only person who has been injured, harmed or exposed to a serious risk. However, WorkSafe encourages you to do so.

The incident site is the area at the workplace where the incident occurred. It includes any plant involved in the incident and extends to any area within the workplace where:

• any substances have escaped, spilled or leaked
• any debris, including plant debris, or objects have fallen as a result of the incident.

The only time the site of a notifiable incident may be disturbed (before an inspector arrives or before an inspector issues a direction) is to:

• protect the health and safety of a person
• provide aid to an injured person involved in the incident
• take essential action to make the site safe or to prevent a further incident.

Fire and explosion incidents involving dangerous goods

Where a fire or explosion involving dangerous goods has occurred, reasonable action must be taken to ensure that any wreckage or debris is not disturbed, moved or removed, except with the permission of an inspector.

Wreckage or debris may be disturbed, moved or removed without the permission of an inspector in order to:

• rescue an injured person
• recover the body of a person
• extinguish the fire
• take reasonable precautions to prevent injury or damage to people or property in the vicinity of the explosion or fire.

After arriving at the incident site, if an inspector considers the incident site should remain preserved (undisturbed) for investigation, the inspector may issue a non-disturbance notice. This notice must specify the period for which the notice is to apply. The period cannot exceed 7 days.

The inspector will take into account the facts and circumstances surrounding the particular incident before deciding whether to issue a direction allowing for a site to be disturbed.

The matters an inspector may consider in deciding whether to issue a direction allowing the site to be disturbed include, but are not limited to:

• the seriousness of the incident
• whether disturbance of the incident site would hinder investigation into the cause of the incident
• whether the incident is alleged to have been caused, or in part caused, by plant, substances or a process which, if disturbed, may continue to expose people to hazards and risks to their health and safety
• whether, and the extent to which, further enquiries need to be made following the visit
• whether preservation is likely to cause significant disruption to public infrastructure and essential services, for example, a hospital emergency department
• whether the incident is in a public place or at a public event where it may not be practicable to secure the incident site at the time of notification.

WorkSafe considers that 'immediate' means 'happening or done without delay'.

Immediate exposure means a person was exposed to a serious risk to their health or safety at the time the incident occurred. This includes:

• where the person was not injured, such as a structure collapsing near people
• where an illness may arise later due to exposure to the hazard, such as an arc flash in which respiratory illness could arise after the incident from breathing in burnt materials or substances.

Immediate medical treatment is medical treatment required without delay after an incident.

Imminent exposure means a person was or would have been exposed to a serious risk to their health or safety when the incident occurred.

For example, even though they may not have been in the vicinity when the incident occurred, a person would have been exposed to the serious risk because:

• they were there prior to the incident,
• would ordinarily have been in the vicinity, or
• were nearby when the incident occurred
• the incident occurred in a location that is able to be accessed by employees and persons have need to access that area on occasion.

Medical treatment means treatment by a person registered under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law to practise in the medical or nursing or midwifery profession, other than as a student. This may include but is not limited to doctor, nurse, midwife, paramedic or dentist.

Mine means:

• a workplace at which work is being performed under a licence within the meaning of the Mineral Resources (Sustainable Development) Act 1990—
  • including work that is exploration (within the meaning of that Act), in the form of underground work of any kind or drilling from the surface for coal-bed methane; and
  • excluding work that is exploration carried out above ground, other than drilling from the surface for coal-bed methane; or
• all parts of a tourist mine that are underground and all infrastructure and plant associated with the underground workings.

Tourist mine means a mine, part of a mine or any other location in which the principal activities conducted are those promoting interest in the practice and history of prospecting or mining.

A person in control of explosives includes the licensee and occupier of the premises, for the purposes of reporting.

WorkSafe considers the term 'serious risk to the health or safety of a person' to mean:

• exposure to the incident created a risk which, if it had eventuated, could have resulted in death or a serious injury or illness of a person (seriousness of potential harm), and
• the level of risk was not minor, in that there was a real likelihood of the risk eventuating (likelihood of incident occurring).

Both the potential seriousness of harm and the likelihood of harm occurring must be identified for an incident to be considered a serious risk to health and safety.

A workplace is any place, whether or not in a building or structure, where employees or self-employed people work.

It includes:

• buildings
• structures
• factories
• vehicles
• offices
• construction sites
• excavations
• mines
• quarries
• demolition sites
• farms
• domestic premises where work takes place.

In service industries, the workplace is generally the location where the service is provided. Locations where emergency services operate are also workplaces. Events such as shows, carnivals and sporting events could also be a workplace.