The importance of Incident Reporting

We spent the weekend going from party to party. Now 10 years ago that would have been club to pub, but with 2 beautiful daughters aged 7 & 4 it means cake to lollies back to cake, throw in some fairy bread then all fall down! Yes similar affect to the old club to pub days but it's the sugar doing the damage nowadays.

One of the kids parties was at a local amusement style park. The girls had a ball on water slides and all kinds of things. Our youngest had finally built up enough courage to go with dad on the go karts. Now these go karts aren't powered mind you, a cable takes you to the top of the hill then you "Plummet" down riding the brake pedal all the way. Whilst walking to the Go karts we witnessed a frightening event. A young boy, maybe 10 - 12 years old had lost control of the kart at the very top of the hill and for whatever reason could not engage the brake pedal. There was only one outcome here and it involved a terrifying ride for the lad to the bottom of the hill and into the tyre barriers. Somehow he got out of it relatively unscathed but extremely shaken.

Naturally we were concerned for the boy as were his family and friends who gathered around. After awhile though my insurance head kicked in. (I hate it sometimes) What concerned me was the lack of response by the park employees. OK so the staffer on The Go Karts initially raced over and extracted him from the tyres and checked him over before passing him onto family. But then, nothing! The child was sitting on the grass in obvious pain with blood in his mouth, yet no staff - who were clearly distinguishable - came running to offer assistance. We were sitting near the family and I noticed that still well over an hour after the event, no one had come over to see how he was. The staff all but seemed oblivious to what had just occurred. Now while we witnessed all this we must clarify we weren't privy to the whole affair.

 

A concern from a Public Liability point of view is obvious when you send children down a hill who can barely reach a break pedal. I don't want to look into that though, it's a given. What his highlights to me is something that should be in every single business including our own, which is an Incident report register. In this modern litigious world, OH&S is a key factor in any business. An incident that occurred say 3 years ago may come back to haunt you and if you don't have evidence of what occurred, including maybe witnesses and what you did to remedy it, then trouble awaits. For one point this would be a breech of your OH&S requirements under the relevant state authority. So before you even get to the incident you're possibly up for a fine. Secondly what this does is shows your procedures when an incident occurs. It provides details of the injured person and witnesses, details of any first aid administered and who by. Facts about the conditions both weather and of the item causing injury.

 

Last week our memo was about "It wont happen to me." In the liability world just like protecting against fire and say burglary, preparation is the key. Liability incidents can happen so quickly and arise many years after it occurred. Having a thorough detailed incident report register is a vital tool for your business. It not only provides evidence of an event and how you tried to rectify it but it also assists your own business in identifying potential hazards. A review of your register should be done at least annually. If a pattern is occurring then it is fair to say you need to focus on that particular part of your business and set a procedure in place to rectify it.

Let's say a solicitors letter is sent to our park in 2 years after the boy has had continual back problems. If the park does not have any record of the event documented then they are on the back foot in defending against any litigation. (Whether they were in the right or wrong)

A simple incident report should be available in all offices. If you don't have one they are easy to find on the web by searching 'incident reports.' There is also software you can purchase if you have a larger manufacturing style business. One such example is at www.incidentreporting.com.au and as always your first point on reference on OH&S procedure should be your state work cover authority. In NSW this is www.workcover.nsw.gov.au

Whilst we should be doing all we can to stay safe in the workplace anyway, remember - whether we like it or not - OH&S is a legal requirement and something as simple as an incident report to record anything from a child tripping over a chair in reception to a run away go kart should be documented.

If you need anymore details please talk to us.