Hazard incident and near miss reporting and investigation procedure

All hazards, incidents and near misses must be reported by all UWA Staff, Students and Contractors:

1. Reported within the same shift to the appropriate Manager / Supervisor; and
2. Recorded in Camms UWA's Electronic Incident Reporting System within 24 hours.

Early reporting and prompt risk management prevents risk exposure and minimises incident reoccurrence. All UWA Staff and Students who lead with effective safety risk management play their part in meeting personal and organisational OSH duty of care and due diligence requirements.

For an overview of UWA’s Electronic Incident Reporting System refer to the following: Camms Website.

Safety hazards are risks that are proactively identified in the workplace and if neglected that have the potential to cause injury, harm, illness or property damage.

Before an incident or a near miss occurs all UWA staff and students should report identified hazards into the Camms Electronic Incident Reporting System.

The responsible Manager/Supervisor are required to work with their staff, Safety and Health Representative (SHR) (where appointed) and / or students to proactively manage identified hazards.

Local area safety hazards are the responsibility of the work area Manager/Supervisor to investigate risks, and implement suitable control measures. Risk control actions must be documented by the Manager /Supervisor in the Camms system.

If a local resolution cannot be achieved UWA’s Resolution of Safety and Health Issues process will be followed to ensure safety hazards are appropriately addressed to as far as practicable to minimise exposure to risk.

Managers / Supervisors will provide feedback to staff and students on the hazards that they have reported and the outcome in how they will be managed.

Campus Management is responsible for the maintenance of buildings, infrastructure and grounds. If a safety hazard cannot be addressed by the immediate Manager/Supervisor the safety hazard should submit an Online Maintenance Request or call (+61) 6488 2025. Confirmation that the job has been logged will be received as an emailed "FM/Chargeable Job Request Number".

Safety related incidents in the workplace are reflective of an event occurring and which has resulted in sustaining an injury or illness or has led to property damage.

Near miss incidents are reflective of an event occurring that had the potential to cause injury, harm, illness or property damage.

Incident and near miss reporting

In the event of an incident the person(s) involved must:

1. Seek first aid or medical attention as required
2. Inform their Manager / Supervisor as soon as possible
3. Log into Camms Electronic Incident Reporting System and document / report the incident
4. Assist their Manager / Supervisor in the completion of an investigation

The Manager / Supervisor of the person(s) involved in the incident is required to:

1. Ensure that any injured person is promptly attended to:
   • Contact UWA Injury Management and Wellbeing Unit - (+61 8) 6488 4683
   • For after-hours contact, a 24-hour reporting line (+61 8) 9327 8800 is available
   • In the event of an emergency refer to UWA Emergency Procedures Website and
2. Log into Camms Electronic Incident Reporting System
3. Review the documented / reported incident details
4. Conduct an incident investigation into the cause of the incident
5. Determine appropriate risks controls to minimise incident reoccurrence
6. Document key findings and outcomes in the Camms System
7. Ensure that all serious injuries and near misses promptly reported to:
   • UWA Safety and Health immediately by phone on (+61 8) 6488 3938
   • Refer below requirements related to Statutory Reporting

Notification and reporting of serious injury, illness or disease

It is a requirement of WorkSafe WA that all serious injuries, illness or diseases are reported to them as soon as possible.

Manager / Supervisors must immediately contact UWA Safety and Health (+61 8) 6488 3938 who will contact WorkSafe WA to report statutory notifiable injuries as per following legislative requirements:

1. Death
2. Fracture of the skull, spine or pelvis
3. Fracture of a bone in:
   1. The arm, (other than a bone in the wrist or hand).
   2. In the leg, (other than a bone in the ankle or foot).
4. Amputation of an arm, hand, finger, finger joint, leg, foot, toe or toe joint.
5. Loss of sight of an eye.
6. Any injury other than those referred to above which, in the opinion of a medical practitioner, is likely to prevent the employee from being able to work again within 10 days of the day on which the injury occurred.

Infectious diseases

Infectious diseases include tuberculosis, viral hepatitis, legionnaire's 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.

Occupational zoonoses

Occupational zoonoses are 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, carcasses or animal waste products.

All reported hazards, incidents and near misses must be investigated and assessed to ensure risks have been identified and appropriately controlled.

The level of detail of a hazard / incident investigation by the responsible Manager / Supervisor in consultation with their local SHR must be in proportion to the risk identified. i.e.:

1. Low, Minor and Moderate risks must be investigated and closed within 14 days; and
2. High and Extreme risks must be investigated and closed within 30 days.

All Lost time Injuries (LTIs) or WorkSafe WA notifiable incidents must undergo a Root Cause Analysis (RCA) Incident Investigation with assistance from the UWA Safety and Health Team. All RCA Incident Investigations must be completed within 30 days and closed within 60 days.

When conducting hazard, incident and near miss investigations the aim of the responsible Manager / Supervisor is to:

1. Minimise hazards/prevent similar incidents recurring in the future
2. identify any new hazards
3. identify and implement suitable controls.

Investigation should occur as soon as possible. In most cases, the less time between a hazard / incident and the investigation, the more accurate the information obtained. While concern for an injured person shall take precedence over everything else, when incidents involving injury or illness occur, early investigation is essential.

Information required when investigating an incident, injury or hazard includes:

1. What happened? - To describe key events
2. How it happened? - To identify contributing factors
3. Why it happened? - To determine the root cause of a hazard, incident and near miss.

Throughout all stages of an investigation, local area processes, resources, capability and behaviour etc. should be assessed in a means to identify how and why hazard, incident or near miss occurred. Investigations should never be undertaken with a view to allocate blame.

Findings of an investigation should be used by the responsible Manager / Supervisor to implement appropriate controls to proactively manage hazards or to minimise risk of incident reoccurrence.

For more information on how to conduct an investigation, please call UWA Safety and Health on (+61 8) 6488 3938 or review the WorkSafe publication - Tips for Investigating Accidents and Incidents.

For further information on Camms, please refer to the New Camms Electronic Incident Reporting System webpage.

For further support please email [email protected] or call (+61 8) 6488 3938.