Work-Related Incident Reporting: How to Proceed?

Companies around the world always aim to reduce their accidents rate. Every year they update their KPIs and KRIs to ensure a safer workplace for their employees. Hence the importance of reporting every incident and keeping all the records to learn and update the internal safety procedures. Therefore, it is essential to go through the details of every undesired event.

What is the procedure after an incident? What sort of tools can be used to improve the reporting process? Let us go through the answers in this article.

In every workplace, the employer is legally obliged to provide the basic safety measures to keep their employees safe. However, incidents are a fact, and they occasionally occur in the workplace. To help employers, companies, and HSE professionals to report these undesired events many tools can be used to help them save time and facilitated administrative tasks, such as digital technology with its incident management and safety inspection forms.

Occupational Incidents: Statistical Overview

In the USA, the number of fatal accidents has averaged around 5,000 per year over the past 12 years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, it's important to note that the rate of fatal injuries increased by approximately 8% in 2021. In terms of non-fatal incidents (injuries and illnesses), there has been a significant decrease of about 50% since the early 2000s. However, the year 2020 was exceptional due to the impact of Covid-19, with 33.2% of reported illnesses being related to the virus. Additionally, reported injuries decreased by 8% in 2021 compared to 2019.

In Canada, according to the Association of Workers’ Compensation Boards of Canada, in 2021 there has been a total of 277 217 cases of accepted lost time claims due to occupational accidents, which is the highest in the last 10 years. This trend was also noted in the number of fatalities in 2021 going up to 1081 cases.

Therefore to increase the rate of fatal and non-fatal incidents at work, it is necessary to carefully report and investigate to improve the safety measures and implement the updated corrective and preventive actions.

Legal Frameworks and Definitions

Definitions

Near-miss. It refers to an unplanned event within the workplace that had the potential to cause harm, illness, fatality, or property damage but luckily did not result in such outcomes. It is essential to report all near-misses that occur to refine processes, improve operations, and eliminate or minimize risks.

Incident. It refers to an undesirable event that may or may not cause harm, injury, or damage. It encompasses many situations, including near misses, unsafe conditions, equipment failures, or any other deviation from normal operations. The occurrence of an incident can introduce hazards or risks to a business and its employees, negatively impacting the organization. Failing to report and investigate these incidents can lead to their recurrence and lead more severe consequences and can escalate to become an accident.

Accident. It is an unforeseen and undesired event that has led to physical injury, illness, fatality, or property damage. Accidents unlike incidents are regarded as random events that could not have been prevented, lacking any intended preventive measures to mitigate or avoid their occurrence. On the other hand, incidents are considered predictable and could have been prevented if appropriate actions were taken.

Laws and Regulations

The employer is required to report every occupational incident that results in injuries and illnesses to the workers.

In the United States, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) enforces all the laws and regulations to protect employees. When an indent occurs, the injured employee or their colleagues must inform the employer as soon as possible. The employer must decide within 7 calendar days to report the incident to OSHA depending on the type of the incident. However, according to OSHA’s “Reporting fatalities, hospitalizations, amputations, and losses of an eye as a result of work-related incidents” an employer must report within 8 hours after the death of an employee and 24 hours after in-patient hospitalization.

Moreover, after an occupational incident, and to receive the benefits of workers’ compensation insurance, each employee and employer must report to their respective state workers’ compensation board. The reporting forms/processes and the timeline vary between states. For example, the employee must report an occupational injury within 10 days in Colorado, and it can go up to 30 days in Florida.

In Canada, CCOHS (Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety) has the same functions as OSHA in the US. Again, reporting occupational incidents to the workers’ compensation board timeframe varies between states. For example, the employer has 72 hours to report an occupational injury in Alberta, when it is up to 5 days in Saskatchewan.

Work-related incidents are real in every company. The importance is to report and record every incident, from a near miss to a fatality. Therefore, reporting and recording every detail related to the incident is crucial for improving occupational safety.

Incident Reporting Procedure

Reporting incidents is important in the continuous improvement process regarding safety procedures. This approach allows the organization to conduct detailed investigations, implement new procedures and risk controls related to the incident.

Here are 4 major steps for incident reporting.

Step 1 Incident Reporting in the Workplace

If the incident results in any sort of injury the employee must receive immediate first aid, therefore there must be trained first aiders among individuals in the workplace.

Once first aid is performed, an incident reporting form is filled out by the employee or any other witness if the injured employee cannot do it themselves. At the same time, the manager onsite, the HSE department, other colleagues, and the employer must be informed of the incident. And depending on its severity, the work might be temporarily stopped to treat and further investigate the incident in the upcoming steps.

The incident reporting form must contain:

• Type of the incident
• Individuals involved
• Location, date, and time
• Damages, injuries, and first aid treatments
• The severity of the incident
• Reasons for the incident
• Immediate corrective actions
• Signature of the person filling out the report

After the incident, it is important to rely on immediate corrective actions to stop the harm or to prevent the escalation of the event to more severe consequences.

Step 2 Investigation and Analysis

Every company has either an incident response team or an incident management team consisting of multidisciplinary members specifically assigned within the company’s internal organization.

The team starts the investigation by consulting the incident form previously filled out by the person who notified the incident. The team has its safety inspection form to complete the missing data and conduct its analysis

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The team has the responsibility to gather all the necessary and detailed information related to the incident. The team will greatly rely on the incident form to gather primary data, and conduct interviews with witnesses, the victim, and note all observations noticed in the incident location.

After collecting all the data and facts, the team undergoes the analysis to identify the root cause of the incident and determine the reason and responsibility for its occurrence. To do so, the team can rely on many tools such as the Causal Factor Tree Analysis (CFTA), the questioning method WWWWHHW, etc.

Step 3 Prevention Action Plan

Once the root cause of the incident is identified, the team proceeds with the implementation of the new corrective and preventive actions to eliminate the newly identified risks (in the case of an accident).

To prevent the recurrence of an incident, the company’s EHS department should go beyond learning lessons and recommendations. It is crucial to share the acquired knowledge and implement corrective and preventive actions to ensure the continuous improvement of safety. Moreover, a robust employee safety training program plays a vital role in preventing similar incidents in the future.

Step 4 Communication and Feedback

It is necessary to monitor and assess the implementation and completion of all corrective measures outlined in the action plan dedicated to this objective. Therefore, before the incident closure, the team must gather all the feedback from the parties involved regarding the new procedures, and communicate any changes to the latter. Furthermore, establishing a review frequency for the corrective action plan is crucial to assess the effectiveness of the implemented measures.

Finally, the closure of an incident serves to confirm the identification of the root cause, completion of corrective actions, and implementation of lessons learned to enhance processes and continuously improve safety measures in the workplace.

Reporting to the Authorities and Record-Keeping

As mentioned above in the regulatory framework, the employer must report the incident to the authorities. The timeline for reporting injuries and fatalities will vary depending on the nature of the incident, its severity, and in which state did it occur (Canada or the USA).

It is important to note that record-keeping is also regulated, and all incident reports must be maintained at the worksite for at least 5 years.

Incident Reporting and Digital Technology: a Potential Ally

A significant number of employees often fail to report or document incidents as required, primarily due to the burdensome and time-consuming nature of the process. Employees may choose not to report incidents, particularly if they are minor or near misses, to save time and avoid inconvenience.

Fortunately, we are now in the digital era, where the process of creating incident reports and maintaining records no longer involves laborious manual paperwork. Digital technology encourages employees to adhere to incident reporting and recording, benefiting all parties involved.

When it comes to incident reporting, employees can rely on digital forms and an intuitive platform that can be used on computers, smartphones, and tablets. A digital incident report form can help the person reporting the incident to quickly fill in all the necessary information, and even attach photos and/or videos to their report. Once the form is filled, it automatically notifies the employer and the incident management team that will rely on this primary information during their Safety inspection and incident investigation.

The incident investigation team has also digitized safety inspection forms that can import all the necessary data gathered in the incident report. Moreover, they can choose the analytical method to use from a list of tools and approaches already installed in the application. These forms can interface via the platform with other important and necessary documents, such as risk assessment records, the global action plan, and HRIS personal registry. All this gathered data can be used in the official and final incident report transmitted to the authorities. The report can be automatically generated.

Moreover, the EHS departments and managers can benefit from all the incidents record keeping to transform this data into dynamic dashboards and monitor all the related actions. Also, thanks to this live monitoring they can have direct access to the accident and incident rate in the company, based on the department, activity, sites, etc.

Finally, all the documentation and records are centralized and archived in a single platform thanks to the Electronic Document Management system. They can be easily accessed from any location and by all stakeholders.

The main goal of effective incident management is to ensure seamless company operations and enable prompt responses to incidents. Additionally, it is crucial to emphasize the importance of reporting all incidents. By utilizing a digital tool, employees can be more engaged and motivated to report any incidents. Reporting and record-keeping play a vital role in the ongoing enhancement of safety measures within an organization and serve as valuable learning tools to reduce the frequency of incidents.

Incident reporting is important for continuous safety improvement and compliance with regulatory requirements. Ensure the best reporting practices with our