Under the new Health and Safety at Work Act the requirements for recording and reporting of incidents to WorkSafe are changing.
With the 1992 Act serious harm accidents had to be reported 'as soon as possible' and in writing within 7 days. The regulations under the new Act is now all 'notifiable events must be reported to WorkSafe and in writing within 48 hours in certain cases, and you also need to keep records of all notifiable events for a minimum of 5 years after the event.
Notifiable events have been defined as:
An uncontrolled incident which did or could have presented serious risk to someone;
An injury including death, illness or any injury which either requires treatment other than just first aid or medical treatment within 48 hours of the incident;
Uncontrolled spillages, fires, explosions, gas escape or leakage and any uncontrolled falling of anything from height;
Clearly defined events for underground work as expected; ventilation interruptions, inrush of water, mud or gas, collapse or partial collapse of any shoring or supporting structures for excavations;
Electrical shocks are also notifiable events.
More definitions and prescribed actions can be expected as and when the new regulations get released up to the April 2016 deadline when the new Act comes into force.
Best advice at this stage is if you're unsure whether or not your accident or near-miss incident is notifiable or not - declare it. WorkSafe will tell you if they require further action or written reports.
It's also advisable to invest in future-proofed Health & Safety system which will cater for the new regulations as and when they are rolled out in the future.
Make sure you are ready with a system which will cater for the upcoming requirements as they evolve to best protect your business and staff going forwards.
Consider our Health & Safety online cloud based management system for your risk management and compliance requirements.