Notifiable Incident
A Notifiable Incident is a workplace event that you must report immediately to your state health and safety regulator by telephone—typically involving death, serious injury requiring hospital admission, or a dangerous incident that exposed someone to serious risk regardless of whether injury occurred. It's the statutory mechanism that triggers emergency regulatory oversight and preserves forensic evidence for investigation.
What is a Notifiable Incident?
A Notifiable Incident is the critical threshold where internal safety management meets external regulatory intervention. Under Australian law, you must report specific serious workplace events to your state or territory regulator—WorkSafe Victoria, SafeWork NSW, or your jurisdiction's equivalent.
This duty isn't administrative—it's a fundamental legal obligation. When you notify, you're triggering three things: emergency regulatory response to prevent further harm, preservation of evidence for potential prosecution, and contribution to national surveillance data that shapes public policy.
The notification regime exists under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Victoria) and the Model Work Health and Safety Act adopted in most other jurisdictions. While definitions vary slightly between states, the core concept remains consistent: serious events require immediate transparency.
What triggers notification
Notifiable incidents fall into three streams: events resulting in death, events resulting in serious injury or illness, and dangerous occurrences (often called "near misses") that exposed someone to serious risk.
Death
Any workplace death is notifiable immediately. This covers employees, contractors, visitors, and members of the public—anyone whose death resulted from the conduct of your business or undertaking.
Causation matters: if someone has a heart attack unrelated to work duties, it's generally not notifiable. However, if there's any doubt about the link to work, regulators advise reporting it. The regulator makes the final determination, not you.
Serious injury or illness
An injury or illness is "serious" if it requires immediate treatment as a hospital in-patient, or if it falls within a prescribed list of specific injuries that require immediate medical treatment.
The "immediate inpatient" test is the most common source of compliance errors. It requires three things simultaneously: the need was immediate, treatment was required (not just assessment), and the person was formally admitted as an in-patient.
Treatment in an Emergency Department followed by discharge home doesn't meet this test—unless the injury also falls within the prescribed list below.
| Prescribed Injury Type | Definition / Examples |
|---|---|
| Amputation | Loss of any part of the body—includes fingertips and toes, not just whole limbs |
| Serious head injury | Skull fracture, loss of consciousness (any duration), or serious brain injury including concussion |
| Serious eye injury | Loss of sight (temporary or permanent), penetrating injury, chemical burns |
| Electric shock | Any electric shock receiving medical attention (delayed cardiac effects possible) |
| Separation of skin | Degloving or scalping—separation from underlying tissue (not ordinary lacerations) |
| Spinal injury | Fracture of vertebrae or damage to spinal cord (excludes soft tissue strains unless admitted) |
| Serious laceration | Deep cuts requiring stitches or medical treatment to prevent blood loss or loss of function |
| Substance exposure | Requiring medical treatment within 48 hours of exposure to chemicals, biological agents, or radiation |
Dangerous incidents
Dangerous incidents are high-potential events that exposed a person to serious risk—even if no injury occurred. You report based on what could have happened, not what actually did.
The "serious risk" test asks: was there a real likelihood of someone being present, and would the consequence have been serious if they were? If both answers are yes, you notify.
Common dangerous incidents include:
- Collapse of plant or structure (cranes, scaffolding, excavations)
- Uncontrolled explosion, implosion, or fire
- Uncontrolled escape or spillage of substances (gas leaks, chemical spills)
- Fall or release of objects from height
- Damage to or failure of pressure equipment, lifts, or hoists
Automated decision trees flag potentially notifiable incidents and guide you through immediate reporting obligations.
The 2025 psychosocial safety reforms
December 2025 marks a significant expansion of the notification regime. New amendments introduce "Violent Incidents" as a distinct notifiable category, reflecting recognition that psychological harm can be as debilitating as physical trauma.
Violent incidents include sexual assault or suspected sexual assault, physical assault (including spitting, biting, or contact with bodily fluids), credible threats of serious assault, and deliberate deprivation of liberty like hostage situations or locking staff in rooms.
The threshold is "serious risk of psychological harm"—a lower bar than "serious injury," acknowledging that trauma from threats or assault can be severe without breaking bones.
Work-related suicide is now explicitly notifiable if it occurs at the workplace or is linked to the conduct of the business. This includes suicide "where suicide is a reasonably foreseeable risk due to the nature of the workplace," placing a significant burden on you to investigate work-relatedness proactively.
Privacy protections apply: you're not required to provide sensitive personal details (names, medical history) of victims in initial notifications, particularly for sexual assault cases. Regulators use secure channels for this information when needed.
How and when to notify
Who must notify
The duty lies with the Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking (PCBU)—typically the employer or self-employed person who manages and controls the workplace.
In complex arrangements (principal contractors and subcontractors), both parties may have concurrent duties. While either can notify to satisfy the legal requirement, if neither does, both are liable. Your contracts should specify who physically makes the notification, but you must verify it happened.
When you must notify
The duty arises "immediately after becoming aware" of the incident. "Becoming aware" is imputed to your organisation—if a supervisor knows, your company knows. Delays caused by waiting to inform senior management aren't a valid defence.
"Immediately" is interpreted strictly. Acceptable delays include securing the site, providing first aid, and calling emergency services (000). Unacceptable delays include investigating root causes, waiting for managers to return, or consulting lawyers about liability exposure.
How to notify
You must use the "fastest possible means"—typically a telephone call to your regulator's emergency line:
- WorkSafe Victoria: 13 23 60
- SafeWork NSW: 13 10 50
- WorkSafe Queensland: 1300 369 915
- SafeWork SA: 1800 777 209
- Check your jurisdiction for the correct number
After the phone call, you must submit a written report within 48 hours, usually through the regulator's online portal. This written record becomes a formal legal document that you must retain for at least 5 years.
Site preservation requirements
Once you notify, you must preserve the incident site—you cannot disturb it until an inspector arrives or grants permission. This includes the plant involved, debris, and the surrounding area necessary for investigation.
The only exceptions are "essential actions" to protect health and safety, aid an injured person, or make the site safe. "Cleaning up" to resume production or make the site look presentable is a criminal offence (tampering with evidence) with separate penalties.
Essential actions include shoring up a collapsing trench to prevent further injury, removing rubble to extract a casualty, or de-energising live wires and isolating gas leaks. Document any site disturbance with photos and detailed notes before you move anything.
Penalties for non-notification
Failure to notify is a strict liability offence—prosecutors don't need to prove intent to conceal, only that notification didn't happen when required.
| Jurisdiction | Maximum Penalty (Corporation) | Maximum Penalty (Individual) |
|---|---|---|
| Victoria | $237,108 (1,200 penalty units) | $47,422 (240 penalty units) |
| Model WHS jurisdictions | Varies by state—check current penalty unit values | Varies by state—check current penalty unit values |
In Victoria, failure to notify is an indictable offence heard in higher courts and carries a criminal conviction. This has significant implications for future government tenders, insurance premiums, and director liability.
In workplace death cases, failing to notify can be viewed by courts as evidence of a reckless or negligent culture, supporting charges of Industrial Manslaughter—which carries maximum fines of $19.7 million for corporations and 25 years imprisonment for individuals.
Our incident reporting system captures everything from near misses to notifiable events with intelligent routing.
Common compliance failures
Misinterpreting "immediate inpatient"
The most frequent error is assuming "treated in hospital" equals "inpatient." Emergency Department treatment followed by discharge doesn't meet the test—unless the injury falls within the prescribed list (amputation, serious head injury, etc.).
Conversely, some organisations assume "not admitted" means "not notifiable" and miss prescribed injuries that require reporting regardless of admission status. Always cross-check both criteria.
The "observation" loophole
Keeping someone in a short-stay unit for observation without formal admission creates a grey area. If the injury is a prescribed type (like a head injury with altered consciousness), it's notifiable even without admission. Relying on the lack of admission as your reason not to report is high-risk.
Waiting for medical confirmation
You can't wait days for a medical report to confirm severity before notifying. The duty is "immediate"—based on what you know now. If you're uncertain whether an injury meets the threshold, call the regulator's advice line and ask. That conversation is logged and demonstrates good faith.
Contractor confusion
The principal contractor assumes the subcontractor reported it; the subcontractor assumes the principal reported it. Three days later, the regulator discovers no one notified. Both parties are fined. Always confirm in writing who is making the notification and verify it happened.
Fear-driven silence
Some managers fear that reporting will trigger an inspection uncovering other non-compliances. This "ostrich effect" usually backfires—the penalty for non-notification adds to penalties for the underlying safety breach, and demonstrates a culture that prioritises concealment over transparency.
Best practices for notification compliance
Build automated decision support
Use incident management systems with decision trees that ask specific questions: "Was the person admitted?" "Did they lose consciousness?" "Did the event involve a structural collapse?" Automatically flag incidents as "Potentially Notifiable" and escalate to your safety team.
Establish 24/7 escalation protocols
Serious incidents don't respect office hours. Create a rostered "Duty Officer" system with authority to make immediate notifications on weekends and nights. Document the protocol and ensure all supervisors know who to call.
Train supervisors on the "golden hour"
Frontline supervisors need clear guidance: secure the scene, care for the injured, call the safety manager. They don't need to know the entire Act, but they must understand not to move the forklift or clean up the spill until they've consulted someone with notification authority.
When in doubt, call and ask
Every regulator maintains an advice line. If you're uncertain whether an incident is notifiable, call and describe the scenario. The conversation is logged—if they advise you it's not notifiable and you rely on that advice in good faith, you've demonstrated reasonable care. That's much safer than guessing.
Document everything before disturbing the scene
If you must disturb the scene for essential actions, photograph and video everything first. Document exactly what you moved, why it was essential, and who authorised the decision. This protects you during the inspector's investigation.
Keep records for 5+ years
Your written notification must be accessible for at least 5 years. Make it available for WorkSafe inspectors, Health and Safety Representatives, and the injured person. Inaccuracies in this report can be used in court to attack your credibility—accuracy matters more than looking good.
How notifiable incidents differ from internal reports
Every incident should be recorded internally for investigation, corrective action, and continuous improvement. But only a subset of serious incidents must be reported externally to regulators.
You might generate hundreds of internal incident reports per year (including near misses, minor injuries, and hazard observations) but only notify the regulator once or twice. Understanding this distinction prevents both illegal under-reporting and unnecessary regulatory scrutiny.
| Feature | Internal Incident Report | Notifiable Incident to Regulator |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | All incidents, near misses, hazards | Death, serious injury, dangerous incidents only |
| Timing | As soon as practicable (internal policy) | Immediately by phone, written report within 48 hours |
| Audience | Internal safety team, management, insurer | State/territory regulator (WorkSafe, SafeWork, etc.) |
| Legal status | Good practice, supports duty of care | Strict legal requirement—criminal offence if not done |
| Site preservation | Not required unless also notifiable | Mandatory—scene cannot be disturbed until inspector permits |
Frequently Asked Questions
If someone goes to hospital but refuses admission and comes home, is it still notifiable?
Not under the "immediate inpatient" test—unless the injury is a prescribed type (amputation, serious head injury, serious laceration, etc.). If they were offered admission but refused, document that conversation. However, if they needed admission but it wasn't offered due to bed shortages or triage decisions, the need was still immediate—that's a grey area best clarified by calling the regulator.
Can I notify online instead of calling?
No. The initial notification must be by the "fastest possible means"—phone call. The written report that follows within 48 hours can be submitted online. If you only submit an online form without calling first, you've breached the immediate notification requirement even if you meet the 48-hour deadline.
What if the incident happened on Friday night but we didn't find out until Monday morning?
Your duty starts when you become aware, not when the incident occurred. Notify immediately on Monday morning when you discover it. However, you should also examine why the incident wasn't discovered for three days—that may indicate inadequate supervision, worker check-in protocols, or site handover procedures.
Do I need to notify if a contractor is injured on my site?
Yes. Your duty as a PCBU extends to contractors, subcontractors, and visitors at workplaces you manage and control. The fact they're not your direct employees doesn't reduce your notification obligation. Both you and the contractor's employer may have concurrent duties—ensure one of you notifies and confirm it in writing.
What happens after I notify?
An inspector will likely attend the site (immediately for deaths and serious injuries, within days for dangerous incidents). They may issue directions about site preservation, interview witnesses, review documentation, and potentially issue Improvement Notices or Prohibition Notices. Notification doesn't automatically mean prosecution, but honesty and cooperation significantly affect the regulator's response.
References and Further Reading
Rigby Cooke Lawyers - Notifiable Incidents OHS Act provides detailed Victorian-specific guidance on the immediate inpatient test and prescribed injury categories.
WorkSafe Victoria - Notifiable Incidents Guide offers official interpretation of notification triggers, timing requirements, and site preservation duties under Victorian law.
SafeWork ACT - Notify WorkSafe explains Model WHS Act notification requirements including the differences in how infections and psychosocial incidents are treated compared to Victorian law.
Global Workplace Insider - 2025 Amendments covers the introduction of violent incidents, work-related suicide, and psychosocial harm into the notification regime effective December 2025.
Citation Group - WHS Incident Reporting Obligations analyses common compliance failures and penalty structures across jurisdictions.
Safe Work Australia - Jurisdictional Penalty Comparison 2025 (PDF) provides current maximum monetary penalties for notification failures across all Australian states and territories.
Victoria's New Psychosocial Health Regulations explains how the December 2025 Victorian Psychosocial Health Regulations interact with notifiable incident requirements, particularly for psychiatric admissions resulting from workplace psychosocial hazards.