Incident notification

The work health and safety laws in Queensland require a person in control of a business or undertaking (PCBU) to notify Workplace Health and Safety Queensland of certain injuries.

What is a notifiable incident?

Workplace Health and Safety Queensland will need to be notified of:

• the death of a person, or
• a serious injury or illness of a person, or
• a dangerous incident.

What is a serious injury or illness?

An injury or illness requiring the person to have:

• immediate treatment as an in-patient in a hospital or
• immediate treatment for:
• amputation, or
• a serious head injury, or
• a serious eye injury, or
• a serious burn, or
• the separation of skin from an underlying tissue (such as degloving or scalping), or
• a spinal injury, or
• the loss of a bodily function, or
• serious lacerations, or
• medical treatment within 48 hours of exposure to a substance.

What is a dangerous incident?

An incident that exposes a worker or any other person to a serious risk to a person’s health or safety because of immediate or imminent exposure to:

• an uncontrolled escape, spillage or leakage of a substance, or
• an uncontrolled implosion, explosion or fire, or
• an uncontrolled escape of gas or steam, or
• an uncontrolled escape of a pressurised substance, or
• electric shock, or
• the fall or release from a height of any plant, substance or thing, or the collapse, overturning, failure or malfunction of, or damage to, any plant that is required to be authorised for use in accordance with the regulations, or
• the collapse or partial collapse of a structure, or
• the collapse or failure of an excavation or of any shoring supporting an excavation, or
• the inrush of water, mud, or gas in workings, in an underground excavation or tunnel, or
• the interruption of the main system of ventilation in an underground excavation or tunnel.

When do you need to notify Workplace Health and Safety Queensland?

Immediately after becoming aware that a notifiable incident has occurred and by the fastest means possible.

The phone number for Workplace Health and Safety Queensland is 1300 369 915. If notice is given by phone Workplace Health and Safety Queensland may request written notice.

Record keeping

You need to keep records of notifiable incidents for at least five years from the day the notice was given to Workplace Health and Safety Queensland.

If an injury occurs and a workers compensation claim will be made, workers compensation laws require that a register of injures be kept which records the following details:

• the name of the injured worker,
• the worker’s address,
• the worker’s age at the time of the injury,
• the worker’s occupation at the time of the injury,
• the industry in which the worker was engaged at the time of the injury,
• the time and date of injury,
• the nature of the injury,
• the cause of the injury.

Duty to preserve incident sites

You must ensure so far as reasonably practicable that the site where the incident occurred is not disturbed until an inspector arrives or an earlier time as directed by the inspector.