Why Your Workplace Safety Program Needs Safety Incident Reporting

A well-executed workplace safety incident reporting practice is often the most important factor in reducing workplace accidents, injuries, and illnesses, and should be a key part of any safety program in any business. 

 

However, many companies still make the same mistake of not having a clear and comprehensive safety incident reporting policy, resulting in employees not knowing when, how, and where to submit a safety incident report.

 

Safety Incident Reporting Policy

In a proper safety incident practice, all workplace incidents should be properly investigated, documented, and reported. However, what scenarios qualify as “incidents”? Here are some examples:

• Any near-miss that could otherwise have resulted in injury, illness, fatality, or property damage should be reported as incidents
• Any situations that resulted in injuries, illnesses, and fatalities of employees should be reported
• Any injury or illness caused by actions by the company or an employee of the company affecting any person who is not an employee is considered an incident
• An employee experiencing a vehicle accident while driving for their job 
• Any property and/or equipment damage due to work activities

It’s important to note that safety incident reporting is not the same as hazard reporting, although they are related to each other. Hazard reporting refers to how an employee reports a potential hazard: potentially unsafe environment, activity, equipment/tools, people, and policy. However, successful hazard reporting is also essential for successful safety incident reporting. 

 

When Should Employees Report Any Incident?

The ideal answer is as soon as possible. The faster an incident is reported to the higher-ups, the faster the company can mitigate the damage (if any) and fix the underlying issues. Safety incident reporting policies should be as clear as possible so that employees wouldn’t need to guess as to whether a problem should be reported formally (or not). 

In general, encourage all workers to always file an incident report when in doubt. 

 

Why Is Safety Incident Reporting Important?

Correct implementation of safety incident reporting practice is integral to the success of the company’s safety program due to the following benefits: 

• Regular practice of safety incident reporting can help create a better safety culture
• Above anything else, immediate safety incident reporting can allow the incident to be taken care of as soon as possible. For instance, medical help, firefighter, and other professional help can be called immediately to mitigate and reverse the damage. Immediate care from medical professionals, for example, can ensure an employee’s relatively minor injury to not develop an infection.
• Incident reporting allows business owners and managers to understand the situation and factors causing the incident, so they can prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future
• Without being aware of the incidents that happen in the workplace, it is impossible for business owners and managers to create a comprehensive safety program to protect the workers and equipment.
• Especially in cases of near misses, when they are not reported, the workplace can be exposed to a greater risk for an even more dangerous incident in the future, since the hazard causing the near-miss hasn’t yet been corrected. 
• Comprehensive safety incident report documents may be a legal requirement in your area and are very important for protecting the company from lawsuits and legal battles. A complete record of what actually happened during the incident may help the company in defending itself in a court of law.
• Safety incident report documentation allows the company to evaluate its business processes and discover inefficiencies and hazards.

 

How Should Incidents Be Reported?

There are actually various methods we can use for the safety incident reporting process. For example, if it’s a fairly small company, employees can simply report the incident directly to HR. If it’s a bigger company, then a more comprehensive chain of commands might be required. 

 

Nevertheless, the incident report should be properly documented. The more details included in the report, the better it will be for the business. However, keep in mind that filing the safety incident report shouldn’t take too much of the employee’s time, so finding the right balance is very important here. 

 

Using a safety incident reporting software solution can significantly help in streamlining the whole process, making it easier for both employees and supervisors to perform and evaluate the safety reporting. 

 

A basic safety incident report should include the following information:

1. Type of incident (near misses, accidents, etc.)
2. Date and time of the incident
3. Location. If it’s an offsite location, make it mandatory to include the location’s address
4. Name of the person injured or at risk in the case of near-miss
5. Name of witness(s)
6. Name of supervisor
7. Description of injuries or work-related illnesses caused by the incident
8. A more detailed description of the incident: 
   1. Sequence of events
   2. Impact/result of the event
   3. Safety equipment or procedures used before and during the event
   4. Anything unusual pre, during, or post the incident
   5. The involved person’s statements
   6. Witness statements
9. Description of treatment after the incident
   1. How the injury was treated (if any)
   2. Whether emergency services are called. If not, why?
   3. How the area was cleaned up and controlled after the incident
10. Analysis of the incident
    1. The cause of the incident (at least, an estimation)
    2. Hazards identified
    3. Suggestions on how to mitigate the risks of similar incidents
11. Photos when possible

Final Words

Safety incident reporting should be taken seriously by both employees and supervisors/safety managers. Employees should be encouraged to report any incident, and there should never be any punitive damages for any employees filing an incident report.

 

All incident reports should also be saved in a secure location, which can be important in cases of legal disputes. This is where having a safety incident reporting solution like iReportSource can significantly help, both in streamlining the reporting process and securing your data.