Notifications under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015

Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA) you must notify WorkSafe when certain work-related events occur, including:

• A death
• A notifiable injury or illness
• A notifiable incident.

Under HSWA, you are required to:

• Notify WorkSafe as soon as possible, when a notifiable event occurs
• Preserve the site of the incident until a WorkSafe inspector arrives, or you are otherwise directed by the regulator or the Police.
• Keep records of all notifiable events. Notifications must be done by phone or in writing and must be given by the fastest means possible in the circumstances.

A notifiable injury or illness includes:

• Any of the following injuries or illnesses that requires a person to have immediate treatment (other than first aid):
  • the amputation of any part of the body
  • a serious head injury
  • a serious eye injury
  • a serious burn
  • the separation of skin from underlying tissue (such as de-gloving or scalping)
  • a spinal injury
  • the loss of a bodily function
  • serious lacerations.
• An injury or illness that requires (or would usually require) a person to be admitted to a hospital for immediate treatment.
• An injury or illness that requires (or would usually require) a person to receive medical treatment within 48 hours of exposure to a substance.
• A person contracts a serious infection (including occupational zoonoses) to which the carrying out of work is a significant contributing factor, including any attributable to:
  • working with micro-organisms
  • providing treatment or care to a person
  • contact with human blood or bodily substances
  • handling or contact with animals, their hides, skins, wool or hair, animal
  • carcasses or waste products
  • handling or contact with fish or marine mammals.
• Any other injury or illness declared by regulations to be a notifiable injury.

A notifiable incident is an unplanned or uncontrolled incident in a workplace that exposes a worker, or any other person, to a serious health or safety risk arising from an immediate or imminent exposure to one of the following categories of events:

• A substance escaping, spilling, or leaking
• An implosion, explosion, or fire
• Escape of gas or steam
• Escape of a pressurised substance
• Electric shock (from anything that could cause a lethal shock)
• The fall or release from height of any plant, substance, or thing
• Collapse, overturning, failing or malfunction of, or damage to, any plant that is required to be authorised for use under regulations
• The collapse or partial collapse of a structure
• The collapse or failure of an excavation or
• Any shoring supporting an excavation
• The inrush of water, mud, or gas in workings in an underground excavation or tunnel
• The interruption of the main system of ventilation in an underground excavation or tunnel
• A collision between two vessels, a vessel capsize, or the inrush of water into a vessel*
• Any other incident declared in the regulations to be a notifiable incident.