OHS Incident Management Policy

1. Policy Statement

Guidance: OHS Act Section 24 and the General Administrative Regulations (GAR) mandate the reporting and investigation of certain incidents. This policy establishes the company's commitment to managing all incidents effectively to prevent recurrence.

[Company Name] is committed to responding to, reporting, investigating, and analyzing all OHS incidents in a timely and effective manner. Our goal is to identify root causes, implement corrective actions, and share lessons learned to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future, thereby continually improving our safety performance.

2. Our Commitments

• Immediate Response: To ensure an effective and immediate response to all incidents to minimize harm and secure the scene.
• Reporting: To ensure all incidents, including near misses, are reported promptly through established channels.
• Investigation: To conduct thorough and objective investigations for all incidents to determine their root causes, not just to assign blame.
• Legal Compliance: To report all legally notifiable incidents (as per OHS Act Section 24) to the Department of Labour and to comply with all requirements of the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act (COIDA).
• Corrective Actions: To implement effective corrective and preventive actions to address the findings of investigations and to track these actions to completion.
• Learning and Improvement: To analyze incident data and trends to identify systemic issues and to share lessons learned across the organization to foster a culture of prevention.

3. Roles & Responsibilities

• Top Management: Is responsible for ensuring the incident management system is resourced and effective, and for reviewing significant incident findings.
• OHS Manager: Is responsible for overseeing the incident management process, ensuring investigations are conducted, and for managing statutory reporting to authorities.
• Line Managers: Are responsible for ensuring incidents in their areas are reported immediately, for leading initial investigations, and for implementing corrective actions.
• All Employees: Are responsible for reporting any incident or near miss they are involved in or witness, and for cooperating fully with all incident investigations.

4. Policy Review

This policy will be reviewed at least every two years.