HRSD Incident Reporting Policy

Incident Reporting and Investigation Policy

Introduction 

Holy Rosary recognises that the health and safety of its employees is a priority and that if accidents or incidents do occur, they should be reported. Incidents should be investigated to ensure that the possibility of recurrence or further risk is minimised.

Holy Rosary understands the importance of incident reporting and investigation and has developed hazard inspection, hazard reporting and maintenance programs to minimise the workplace accidents or dangerous occurrences.

This policy applies to all employees, volunteers, contractors and visitors. 

Purpose & Scope 

To ensure that all relevant incidents/ hazards/ near misses are reported, recorded, investigated in a systematic manner with corrective actions implemented to prevent recurrence and notified to Statutory Authorities where required. 

Definitions

Hazard: A source of potential harm to health and safety. 

Incident: an event that has the potential to or does lead to an injury or damage to property and equipment as result of losing control of a hazard

Near miss: An incident which does not cause injury or damage but had the potential to do so. 

Injuries and work-related deaths:  an incident for which you are legally required to notify Worksafe WA.

The types of injuries that must be reported are:

  • a fracture of the skull, spine or pelvis;
  • a fracture of any bone in the arm (other than in the wrists or hand) or in the leg (other than a bone in the ankle or foot);
  • an amputation of an arm, a hand, finger, finger joint, leg, foot, toe or toe joint;
  • the loss of sight of an eye; and
  • any injury other than the above which, in the opinion of a medical practitioner, is likely to prevent the employee from being able to work within 10 days of the day on which the injury occurred.

Types of diseases that must be reported are:

  • infectious diseases: tuberculosis, viral hepatitis, Legionnaires’ disease and HIV, where these diseases are contracted during work involving exposure to human blood products, body secretions, excretions or other material which may be a source of infection; and
  • occupational zoonoses: Q fever, anthrax, leptospiroses and brucellosis, where these diseases are contracted during work involving the handling of, or contact with, animals, animal hides, skins, wool, hair, carcases or animal waste product

Responsibilities

Employees including volunteers and contractors

  • Must report any hazard, near miss, incident or injury to their manager using the Incident Report Form. 

Supervisor/Manager/Principal/Assistant Principal:

  • Must investigate all types of incidents
  • Consult with the Health and Safety Representative with regard to incident investigation and risk control
  • Assist the injured/ill employee and seek first aid medical attention if appropriate by ensuring a first aid officer is onsite
  • Complete and forward the incident investigation form to the Principal
  • In the event of a serious injury or work related death refer the matter to the principal.

OSH Representative:

Procedures

Incident Reporting

  1. Appropriate assistance is to be organised and provided to the injured/affected persons. A first aid officer should be made available on-site to assess whether medical treatment is required.
  2. DO NOT alter the incident/near miss site as an external investigation may be required. 
  3. All hazards, incidents and near misses must be recorded in the Incident Report Form and forwarded to (Insert authorised person/ position). 
  4. The Principal is responsible for assisting the completion of the Incident Report Form. 
  5. A copy of the Incident Form should accompany any potential Workers Compensation claim.

Incident Investigation

It is important to notify, investigate and analyse an incident or near miss as it may occur again and the results may be more serious.  Factors for consideration when investigating incidents and near misses include:

  • Due to the possibility of use in a court of law, inaccurate comments or those of a trivial or potentially slanderous nature must not be used anywhere in the report.

The Principal  is responsible for ensuring that an investigation is conducted for incidents to identify root causes. The following steps should be considered when undertaking an incident investigation:

  • An Incident Investigation Team may be formed which may include includes OSH Committee members 
  • Relevant persons must be consulted during the investigation process to ensure capture of all information and details as well as to ensure effectiveness and transparency of the investigation process. 
  • The Principal must sign off the report and investigation only after all corrective actions are implemented and the matter is finalised/closed off.

A copy of the finalised Incident Investigation Report shall be provided to the injured worker or the person who initiated the original report.

External Reporting 

The following are reportable incidents to the DirectorGeneral of Education Department:

(1) The death of a student or staff member at school or during a school-related activity, or following an incident at school or during school-related activity.

(2) An incident involving injury, illness or trauma to a student or staff member at school or during a school-related activity requiring ambulance or hospital attendance.

(3) An incident requiring a police or other emergency services response when a student appears to have been taken or removed, or goes missing and cannot be accounted for, from the school or from a school-related activity without proper authority.

(4) An incident requiring the school to be locked down or to evacuate staff and students, or reduce the number of students or staff attending, or to close for any duration for health or safety reasons.

(5) The receipt of a complaint or allegation of child abuse, including but not limited to sexual abuse, committed against a student – (a) by a staff member or another student; or (b) by another person on the school premises or during a school-related activity; whether the abuse is alleged to have occurred recently or in the past.

(6) Issuing a formal warning to or ceasing the employment of a staff member for a breach of the Code of Conduct suspected to have involved grooming behaviour.TraumaFor the purpose of standard 7.1 and the definition of reportable incidents, a trauma is a psychological wound or injury suffered at school or during a school-related activity [Australian Psychological Society].