Why Incident Reports are Required and Best Workplace Incident Practices

While working in an organization or business, workers at their workplace are bound to get into incidents. Either the incident is physical or work-related, reporting that incident to management is necessary. Incident reporting is not only helpful in improving workplace security and safety, it also ensures that no other worker become a victim of the same tragedy. This article will give details about incidents, their causing factors, and the importance of incident reporting.

What is an Incident?

An incident in the broad term can define as an event or series of events that lead to workers injury, mental ailment, harassment, chronic illness, equipment damage, equipment malfunctioning or damage to property. Other than that, if things didn’t work out the way we wanted them to be is also called an incident. No matter how insignificant or significant it is, every incident should be registered or filed to the administration. Sometimes, trivial incidents are indicators of something wrong with workers health or organizational structure. If these incidents get reported on time, the administration can sort out the issues and prevent them from happening again.

What is an Incident Report?

An incident report is an official and written record of details and facts of any incident, that happens at the worksite. In well-known organizations and companies, incident reporting is considered an unwritten rule, and every employee is bound to comply with that rule. Most of the time, employees and working staff feels hesitant about reporting such incidents. The management must ensure their workers that incident reporting is not about blaming them. Instead, incident reporting helps businesses to find out faults in their organizational structure.

Why incident reporting is critical.

The structure of an organization is quite like the “Swiss Cheese” model. Each layer of cheese contains holes in it but when combined, the whole structure seems sturdy. Every cheese layer got strengthened by other layers as one layer covers the holes of other layers. Quite like that, every business has some faults, but they are not exposed to administration. Incident reporting of a minor incident may lead to some major issues that might cause harm soon. Workers should also encourage to report their personal or health-related issues to management on time. On-time diagnosis and cure of a worker’s illness may save the company from paying huge health insurance.

The incident reporting enables a company to make necessary arrangements before the incident get discussed in the media. The negative reporting of some incident in media, if not handled carefully, can destroy the market reputation within no time. Incident reporting also provides the company with leverage to deal with legal claim suits. These legal lawsuits are about incident costs, compensation claims of workers and compliance maintenance. Overall, incident reporting helps a company’s administration to build a healthy working environment in the worksite.

What information should Include while Reporting an Incident Report?

Before writing an incident report, you must be sure about the details of the incident, you are going to report. Every organization should have an OSHA approved incident report log for reporting the incidents. The standard template of OSHA approved Incident form requires the following information to be filled:

• Incident Type: This portion requires details of the nature of the incident.
• Location: This portion requires details about the location where this incident took place. If an incident happens in the company, mention the building or department name. If the incident takes place outdoor, mention details like street, road etc.
• Date and Time: Mentioned the exact date and time of the incident there.
• People Involved: Mention name, job titles and designations directly or indirectly involved in this incident.
• Witness Names: Mention the names of people present there at that time.
• Injuries: Mention the name and number of injured people in this section. Also, describe the nature of injuries of each person in detail.
• Treatment: This portion requires details about the treatment offered to injured workers.
• Damage Estimation: This portion requires details about the damage caused by this incident. Also, give an estimation of the damage by considering the market value of damaged objects and machinery.
• Images: If it is possible, attach images with this report as a precautionary measure.

How to Prevent Incidents at the Workplace

The most common type of incident happens at workplace are work-related injuries and their follow-up illnesses. To avoid happening of such incidents at the worksite, companies should act upon the following tips:

• By arranging training sessions for employees, stats of these incidents can be brought under control. These training sessions will help workers to create a communication channel where workers can freely share their experiences.
• By regular risk assessments, management can reduce the chances of physical, chemical, or mental incidents at the worksite.
• By creating awareness in the workers about filing incident reports, no matter how small the incident was.
• Changing machinery parts on a regular schedule. Evaluation of machine functions can also reduce the chances of machinery-related incidents.
• By keeping the workplace clean and following the warning signs, workers can avoid many incidents.
• By providing the PPE kits to their workers, companies can reduce the work-related injuries in the workers. 

Collaborating with Safety Counselling Inc.

Business and work-related incidents are in direct proportion, and we can’t change this ratio. But companies can do their best to prevent happening of such incidents by following OSHA recommendations. If you are building or upgrading the safety practices of your New Mexico construction business, you need to contact Safety Counselling Inc for a safety consultation.

Safety Counselling Inc. has been in the business since 1973 and provides consultation services to customers. Our experts will help you to create an effective injury prevention program to prevent injuries at the worksite. Along with that, the company will give you suggestions about loopholes and flaws which need immediate attention to prevent incidents in future.

Safety Counselling’s safety management services are totally per OSHA standards and regulations. If you have any queries or want assistance in building an injury prevention program, feel free to contact us or schedule a meeting!