Chipping Away at Compliance: Event Reporting and Management

Posted 2 mins ago by Sarah Glover 7 Minute(s) to read

Sh*t happens! While most of what we do is aimed at preventing incidents and harm of any kind, things can and likely will still go down. And when it hits the fan, these events should be reported and managed appropriately.

Both employment-related and safety-related events and incidents (in fact, any events) should be noted, reported, and resolved—and for that, you need the right systems in place.

Which events need reporting?

Safety-related events and incidents must always be reported - any equipment failures, falls, injuries, and near misses are sources of information and potential improvement, whether anyone is seriously hurt or not. Businesses should have an internal event reporting and management system for small events, but there are some which must also be reported to WorkSafe per the law.

“A PCBU must make sure the regulator is notified as soon as possible after becoming aware that a notifiable event arising from the conduct of the business or undertaking has happened.

This allows the regulator to immediately investigate or follow up on events that cause, or have the potential to cause, death, serious injury or illness (serious health and safety risks).”

Notifiable events include:

a death,
a notifiable injury or illness, or
a notifiable incident.

Notifiable injuries or illnesses are those which happen at work and would usually result in a hospital admission. Notifiable incidents are unplanned or uncontrolled work-related incidents which expose workers or others to serious risks. These are significant near misses; events that in different space, time, or hands could have resulted in serious harm. There is more detailed information available on the Worksafe website.

For a good work culture and HR compliance, it’s important to take interpersonal issues and events seriously, following any reporting procedures to find a conclusion. These might include interpersonal challenges, operational performance concerns, and working relationship problems—any conflicts or disputes between staff members. Dealing with these proactively (and reliably) can promote a strong culture where employees feel supported and listened to; where operational inefficiencies are corrected and addressed swiftly. This in turn can improve retention and minimise serious grievances that come out of compounding unresolved issues—both of which will save unnecessary cost.

H&S and HR are not the only categories in which things happen that require reporting and followup. Customer complaints, supplier issues, and maintenance concerns are a few other possibilities; you should have channels in place to capture information from these events and
act on it. These need to be resolved to avoid conflict or other roadblocks— and may well be precursors to safety or interpersonal incidents.

There are also events falling outside of the traditional H&S sphere that legally must be reported to governing agencies. These include, for example:

In a safety and quality assurance sense, event management processes are often described as ‘continuous improvement’. Continuous improvement can apply to any facet of a workplace, so we often like to bring these ‘something went wrong’ components together into one streamlined management system ensuring they can all be adequately reported and managed.

The risks of failure to report and manage

Any event or incident is an opportunity to improve your systems—conversely, a failure to properly report and manage in the aftermath of an event or incident is a missed opportunity which brings with it an increased likelihood that the same thing will happen again. The risk is clear: a repeat, and potentially one with a worse outcome! An escalated repeat may come with legal repercussions.

For workplace safety, the Health and Safety at Work Act requires leaders in a business to make sure there are good systems in place to handle and respond quickly to any incidents, hazards, or risks. The law defines what needs to be reported when someone is injured or becomes ill at work, or when there are serious incidents—as we outlined in the previous section.

New Zealand's laws on employment relationship problems and workplace safety focus on creating fair and safe work environments. If an employee feels they've been treated unfairly, such as being unjustly fired or discriminated against, they can raise a personal grievance within 90 days of the incident, or, in the event of sexual harassment, 12 months.

As mentioned above, other events also come with consequences should they go unreported. Privacy breaches and product defects are big ones legally, but operationally supplier errors or customer complaints can have serious internal and external consequences.

Benefits of good reporting and management

There’s much to be gained from a thorough and effective process of reporting events—be they HR or H&S related—and managing them to completion/closure. As we mentioned above, any event or incident is an opportunity to improve. When you have systems in place to take advantage of these opportunities, you can:

Learn from mistakes and near misses to do better next time.
Foster a culture of safety, where employees feel valued and protected, leading to increased morale and productivity.
Smooth out wrinkles for operations that are not only safer but more efficient.
Promote a proactive and resilient culture where continuous improvement is an inherent part of "how we do things around here."

Creating and implementing systems that work

There are a few fairly simple steps to putting together a solid system for reporting and managing events in the workplace. Here’s the rundown:

Establish reporting procedures and create forms/documentation. Decide who will do what, and in what timeframe. You’ll need:
1. An Incident (Event) Management policy and procedure (how we manage events as an organisation, and what workers are required to do)
2. A mechanism for reporting
3. An incident/event register to keep track of events raised
4. A process of how to manage actions that arise from the investigation
5. A return-to-work policy or plan.

Identify/appoint investigators, whether internal or external, and decide whether or what training is required.
Communicate policies and procedures to all workers and stakeholders, and provide training on these where required (often this is done at the time of induction, and periodically when any changes are made).
Christen your incident register by filling it in for the previous 12 months. If you experience writer’s block, pull out any old ACC notification letters and see if these have been reported.

As part of the implementation process, it’s important to create and encourage a cultural shift. Consider carefully your messaging around reporting, and ensure that all employees are aware that reporting incidents and events comes with no risk of retribution or blame. A crucial part of this is strong support and commitment from leadership, modelling how the system works.

Communication is key with this and almost every other aspect of safety. Respond to events in a timely manner and seek feedback which can be used to improve the system. The reporting process should be integrated with the organisation's overall safety management system to ensure a cohesive approach to managing workplace safety and health. This involves checking how the linked safety system elements (risk register, work instructions and training for example) are considered as part of an investigation or close out process.

TL;DR: Report and manage, every time!

Whether they are H&S-related, HR-related, or fall into other categories (like privacy breaches or product defects), significant events and incidents in your workplace should always be reported, dealt with according to company policy and the law, and used as a lesson for future improvements. Even near misses should be recorded and used as a learning tool.

Failing to report and manage events of all kinds can have serious consequences and even legal ramifications. On the flipside, diligent record-keeping and followup brings with it learning that leads to smoother, safer, and more efficient operations—as well as a culture where people feel valued and protected.

Here’s a quick look at what you can do to create and implement strong event reporting and managing systems:

Establish reporting procedures and create forms/documentation. Decide who will do what, and in what timeframe.
Identify/appoint investigators, whether internal or external, and decide whether or what training is required.
Communicate policies and procedures to all involved, and provide training on these where required.
Christen your incident register by filling it in for the previous 12 months.
Encourage people to report events and ensure they feel comfortable to do so.

Need some more detail? Read the full blog post above, or get in touch with the Emendas team for some expert support!

Seek help from the pros

Get your event reporting and management systems up to scratch with input from experienced professionals! Generic fill-in-the-blanks solutions rarely work well in practice—invest in some initial expert help and be equipped and empowered to effectively manage this aspect of compliance yourself in the years to come.