Workplace Incidents Reporting

Workplace incidents reporting rates are usually blamed on the system. Four barriers sit behind low reporting and only one is technical.

Blame. If reporting an incident leads to a conversation about what the worker did wrong, reporting stops. This is the largest single factor.

Consequence for a colleague. People will absorb a hazard rather than create trouble for a workmate or a supervisor they like.

Nothing visibly happens. Reports that disappear teach people the exercise is pointless. Closing the loop publicly is the cheapest fix available.

The form. Long, on a desktop, built for injuries. Real but the least important of the four.

Organisations that fix only the form get a small lift and conclude the problem was cultural. It was, and the first three cost nothing.

Safe Work Australia covers incident duties. This is general information rather than legal advice, and obligations vary by state and territory.

See Sentrient’s incident reporting software and psychological safety course.