Completing Reporting Requirements

The Work Health Safety Act provides workers with a legal framework for responding to critical incidents or incidents of behaviours of concern (Safe Work Australia, 2021). Workers should be aware of the organisation’s incident reporting systems that help facilitate the reporting process. To ensure that reports comply with policies, procedures, and legislation, the organisation’s reporting processes and systems for reporting should be widely communicated and reviewing to workers (Safe Work Australia, 2021). Workers should receive adequate training on how to navigate reporting systems and how to complete an incident report.

During the incident reporting process, workers should inform the relevant staff members about the incident report as detailed on organisation policies and procedures. This generally includes the worker’s supervisor or manager who will ensure the report meets the requirements for incident reporting. For critical incidents that involve serious injury or death, the work health safety regulator of the respective state territory must be notified.

Workers may also communicate the incident report with other workers supporting the client, the client’s carers or family, and service providers involved with the client care. While doing so, workers should be aware of organisational policies and procedures on confidentiality and information sharing.

Organisation policies and procedures provide workers with an outline of the information that should be included in a report and other documentation, such as client case notes or support plans. While organisation policies and procedures may vary, the following information should be included in a report:

• What has occurred: A description of the incident should be provided. This includes information on who was involved, where it occurred, when it occurred, and circumstances surrounding the incident.
• What has been done to ensure safety: Workers should detail the actions taken to ensure safety.
• What has occurred subsequently: Workers should detail what happened following the incident.
• Whether established procedures were followed: Workers should indicate whether they have acted in line with the relevant policy and procedure.
• Information on what has been learnt from the incident: Workers may provide information on risks and triggers that led to incidents that were not previously known by the organisation.
• Recommendations: Workers may provide recommendations on how future incidents can be prevented.

When preparing reports, workers should write clearly and succinctly. Workers are encouraged to write in short sentences, use objective language, and stick to the facts of the situation. The use of abbreviation or jargon should also be avoided. This allows other workers accessing the report to understand the client’s circumstances quickly and easily.

Documenting incidents allows organisations to ensure continued safety for clients (Fetherston, 2015). Following an incident report, organisations are to carry out investigations and gather information on emerging patterns and trends of risks, thus enabling the organisation to prevent future incidents. Following an incident, organisations should review current measures taken to manage the conflict or behaviour of concern and determine if the measure was appropriate. This provides the worker an opportunity to reflect on their practice and determine ways to improve. For example, organisations may decide if further training of staff is required, review current policies and procedures from behaviours of concern, or change service delivery mode. Information obtained and recommendations made from investigations should be documented on the client’s case notes or support plan.

Recording incidents of behaviour of concerns or critical incidents allow future workers providing support for the client to be aware of risk factors or triggers that could escalate behaviours of concern. This ensures that other workers are receiving current information on the support required to best meet the client’s needs. Furthermore, workers should engage in ongoing monitoring of the effectiveness of the changes made to the client’s support plan.

Following critical incidents or incidents of behaviours of concern, workers need to be aware of their legal obligations and adhere to organisation policies and procedures when preparing incident reports. Specifically, workers should be aware of the relevant staff members that need to be aware of the incident and communicate the incident in a succinct and objective manner. Overall, incident reporting is an important part of the process of managing behaviours of concern and encouraging responsible behaviour as it allows organisations to improve from previous shortcomings.

Fetherston, T. (2015). The importance of critical incident reporting – and how to do it. Community Eye Health, 28(90), 26–27.

Safe Work Australia. (2021, January 1). Preventing workplace violence and aggression guide. Safe Work Australia. Retrieved from https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/doc/preventing-workplace-violence-and-aggression-guide

The Sports Facilities Companies. (n.d.). [Photograph of a blank Incident Report Form that someone is about to fill in.] https://sportsfacilities.com/how-to-develop-an-incident-report-for-your-sports-complex/