Reporting safety
A safety reporting process will help you identify health and safety issues, why they occurred and how to fix them.
Why have a safety reporting process?
A good safety reporting process:
- encourages your workers to speak up about issues and potential issues
- motivates everyone at work to join in
- provides regular discussions about health and safety and opportunities to join in
- helps improve your safe work procedures and training
- reports back on the actions taken to resolve issues
- makes it clear what the law requires in case of a serious injury, serious illness or death at your workplace.
What to report?
Some things you should encourage workers to report include:
- injuries, illnesses and fatalities
- near misses
- damaged or faulty equipment
- housekeeping issues
- health and safety hazards
- suggestions for improvement.
By encouraging the reporting of hazards, near misses, and maintenance problems, you can help stop incidents from occurring.
Importantly, some injuries, illnesses and incidents must be reported to Workplace Health and Safety Queensland by law.
Where do I start?
Involve your workers when developing a safety reporting process.
Together, you should decide:
- what issues to report
- how to report them
- who to report the issues to
- how to fix issues.
Your process doesn't need to be complicated. You could use an online form, or place a dedicated notepad or whiteboard in your lunchroom.
The most important thing is to let your workers know that you're listening and willing to act when needed.
Learn more about different ways to consult with your workers and get everyone involved.
When do I need to report an incident to Workplace Health and Safety Queensland?
Workplace fatalities and certain serious incidents must be reported to Workplace Health and Safety Queensland within a certain timeframe.
If an employee is injured, there are also reporting requirements to your workers' compensation insurer.
Learn about your legal responsibility to report health and safety incidents.