Notifying a work health and safety incident

A notifiable incident involves a dangerous incident, or the death, serious injury or illness of a person.

If a notifiable incident occurs, you must notify us immediately after becoming aware on 1800 019 115. If an incident is notifiable, the incident site must be made secure, so it’s not disturbed until an Inspector attends to conduct an investigation, or you are directed otherwise.

A PCBU may also be required to complete and submit an Incident notification form to NT WorkSafe. A PCBU who is required to submit an 'Incident notification form' has 48 hours from the time they notified the incident by phone.

The process

This bulletin sets out what you can expect from NT WorkSafe and what you can do to assist us when you notify an incident under the Work Health and Safety (National Uniform Legislation) Act 2011.

Our response

When we are notified of an incident, we will assess/triage the information to determine the appropriate response in accordance with the National Compliance and Enforcement Policy.

You will be given a reference number, so you can contact us or provide additional information regarding the incident.

We will tell you what type of response we will be providing, including instructions on how to preserve the site, if required.

Response based on incident

Outside our jurisdiction:

If the incident is outside our area of responsibility, we will tell you who to contact for assistance, or where possible, refer the matter to the relevant agency on your behalf.

Insufficient information provided:

We will tell you at the time of notification whether the information provided is enough for us to assess and respond to the incident.

Administrative response:

If the incident is assessed as low risk, we will tell you in writing what you must do. We will recommend that you determine the cause of the incident and introduce appropriate control measures. We will also confirm the site has been released by us, and advise you on consultation and keeping records arising from the investigation. Generally, we will send you a response within seven to ten business days.

Verification visit – Inspector follow-up:

We visit some businesses who have received an administrative response, to assess what action they have taken in response to the incident that occurred. These visits generally occur within three months of us being informed of the incident.

Inspector response:

If the incident is assessed as moderate to high risk, an inspector will respond.  We aim to visit a moderate to high risk incident as soon as practicable with consideration given to the location, accessibility and need to coordinate with other government agencies.

What you can expect from us

We will maintain contact with you during our response to the incident. This may include a request for further information, or for additional action to be taken by you.

We will also advise on the outcome of any inspector visit, or the requirements for continuing interaction with your workplace.

How you can help us

We can provide you with a better service if you provide us with the following information:

• An overview of what happened – the date, time and location of the incident;
• Information about anyone who was injured, including their name, date of birth, contact details and relationship to you (for example – worker, volunteer, contractor, member of the public);
• Information about the injury, treatment received and, if transported to hospital, the name of the hospital;
• Your details including the legal and trading name, ABN, ACN and contact details;
• Immediate action that was taken to make the site safe; and
• Further action that was taken, or will be taken, to prevent the incident happening again.

We know that this can be a stressful time, so try to remain calm when dealing with our staff, as they are trying to help and it will lead to a better outcome for everyone.