Safety Moment - Incident Reporting

When and how should I report a safety incident?

Incident reporting is critical to a successful workplace safety and health program. It is important that you report immediately no matter how minor it may seem.

The main goal is to prevent all safety incidents in the workplace, but if an unfortunate near miss or incident occurs, it is important that you report it immediately no matter how minor it may seem.

The main concern is to make sure that you receive prompt medical attention, if required. Once your supervisor is confident that you are taken care of, an investigation will take place to ensure that a similar or more serious incident does not happen.

The following types of workplace incidents must be reported to your supervisor immediately:

• Near misses
• First aid incidents
• Illnesses
• Injuries
• Fatalities
• Occupational exposure
• Vehicle accidents

What is a Workplace Incident?

It is an unintended event that hinders completion of a task and may cause injury or other damage.

What is a Near Miss?

It is an incident that did not result in any personal injury, property damage, or production interruption.

What is a First Aid Incident?

It is any injury that can be treated on the job site without causing lost work days. Treatment for first aid incidents includes cleaning minor cuts, scrapes or scratches, treating a minor burn, applying bandages or dressings, cold compress, cold pack, ice bag or splint.

Why is incident reporting necessary?

1. Prompt medical attention may be needed to ensure a minor injury does not become worse, develop into an infection or become life-threatening.
2. Incident reporting provides a process in which the situation can be corrected in order to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.
3. When a minor incident or a near miss is ignored (not reported), the workplace is at a greater risk for a more serious incident to occur in the future because the hazard or inefficient process was never corrected.
4. Documenting all incidents allows us to track patterns, realize trends, and discover anomalies so we can improve your working environment.
5. Feedback from incidents that are reported provides a way for you to participate in the workplace safety improvement strategies. Your knowledge is key to implementing safe work practices.

A safe workplace starts with you, your involvement counts, not only in reporting incidents that have already taken place but also in preventing them. A near miss incident is just as important to report as an incident. If you see an unsafe condition, unsafe action or an accident that can be prevented, report it. Reporting of a near miss is not an admission of guilt or error, but rather a method of identifying a future incident.