AGWA July 2026 Topic of the Month: Incident Management

AGWA 2026 Safety Calendar July Topic of the Month: Incident Management

Published 2 July 2026

Safety

Incident Management

AGWA Safety July Topic of the Month

This month's focus is Incident Management

2 July 2026

20 min read

The main duty of a PCBU is to ensure that workers and others are not exposed to a risk to their health and safety in the workplace. To meet these obligations they must provide, as far as is reasonably practicable, a safe and healthy workplace by ensuring safe systems of work, safe usage of plant and equipment and adequate training and supervision among other things.

One duty that doesn't get as much focus is the duty to Notify and Record Workplace Incidents. Section 35 of the WHS Act requires a PCBU to notify the Regulator of any incident that involves the death of a person, serious injury or illness of a person or a dangerous incident. Each state and territory has their own Regulator and to find contact details for yours see below.

The Model WHS Act has changed in relation to notifications that are required by expanding what is considered a 'serious injury or illness' among other things. The Model WHS Legislation Amendment (Incident Notification) Act 2025 became law in late December 2025. However, no state or territory has adopted these changes as yet, so the current sections, as they are, remain in force. AGWA will advise you when they change in your state or territory.

Throughout July, we'll be sharing valuable resources and best practices to help you prevent and avoid injuries in your workplace. If you'd like a PDF of this post to use in your workplace, please contact [email protected].

Look out for safety tips, toolbox talks, and other resources throughout the month. Go to our Safety Resources on the AGWA website to help you implement all these tips. There you will find many tools to make these tasks easier.

Let's manage incident notification together and make sure that every worker gets to go home at the end of the workday!

What is a notifiable incident?

A 'notifiable incident' is one where there is a death of a person, serious injury or illness of a person or a dangerous incident. These incidents must be reported to the Regulator IMMEDIATELY the PCBU becomes aware by the fastest possible means eg, phone call or email.

What is regarded as a serious injury or illness under section 36 of the WHS Act?

Immediate treatment as an in-patient in a hospital; or
immediate treatment for the:
- amputation of any body part ; or
- a serious head injury; or
- a serious eye injury; or
- a serious burn; or
- separation of skin from underlying tissue (such as degloving or scalping); or
- a spinal injury; or
- loss of a bodily function; or
- serious lacerations; or
- medical treatment within 48 hours of exposure to a substance.

What is regarded as a dangerous incident under section 37 of the WHS Act? These are also referred to as near misses.

Exposing any person to a serious risk to a person's health or safety emanating from an immediate or imminent exposure to:
- an uncontrolled escape, spillage or leakage of a substance; or
- an uncontrolled implosion, explosion or fire; or
- an uncontrolled escape of gas or steam; or
- an uncontrolled escape of a pressurised substance; or
- electric shock; or
- the fall or release from a height of any plant, substance or thing; or
- the collapse or partial collapse of a structure.

Important Tip: Remember that these injuries involve more than having needing to have a wound washed out and a band aid applied, or an irritation to the eye that passes when washed out with water or a minor bump to the head or a back strain. They are much more serious.
For guidance please see Safe Work Australia incident Notification Fact Sheet.

Who should notifiable incidents be reported to and when?

The PCBU must notify the Regulator in their jurisdiction immediately that they become aware of the incident. This is covered by section 38 of the WHS Act.

Do you know your Regulator?

- Commonwealth: Comcare, 1300 366 979
- NSW: SafeWork NSW, 13 10 50
- Queensland: Workplace Health and Safety Queensland, 1300 362 128
- SA: SafeWork SA, 1300 365 255
- ACT: WorkSafe ACT, 13 22 81
- NT: NT WorkSafe, 1800 019 115
- Tasmania: WorkSafe Tasmania, 1300 366 322
- WA: WorkSafe WA, 1300 307 877
- Victoria: WorkSafe Victoria, 1800 136 089

PCBU Tip: Section 39 of the WHS Act requires you to leave the incident site undisturbed until an inspector investigates. This doesn't stop you helping the injured person, giving them first aid or moving them if it is dangerous for them to remain there.
PCBU Tip: Don't clean up the area or move things until the inspector, or the police, tell you that it is ok to do so.

What records do you need to keep?

The PCBU must keep a record of each notifiable incident for at least 5 years from the date of notification.
A Register of Injuries is a way to record workplace injuries or illnesses sustained by workers regardless of whether there has been a claim.
The Register of injuries should include the following for every incident or near miss:

- name of the injured worker
- worker's address
- worker's age at the time of injury
- worker's occupation at the time of injury
- industry in which the worker was engaged at the time of injury
- time and date of injury
- nature of the injury
- cause of the injury.

PCBU Tip: Remind workers to report all injuries, incidents or near misses straight away.
PCBU Tip: Make reporting quick and easy and workers will be more likely to comply.

What is a Return-to-Work Program?

This is the process of returning an injured/ill worker to the workplace. Under legislation, workers and PCBUs must take every reasonable step to participate in rehabilitation and return-to-work programs.

What do you need to do?
Ensure that injured workers can return to work safely without fear of being treated negatively or being discriminated against. This includes making a plan for the injured worker to return to work.
Prepare a suitable duties plan. It’s likely that they will need suitable duties when they first return to work, or have their workload or hours adapted. You might also have to make some changes to accommodate them such as changing their duties or even changing the layout to make things easier for them. These are tasks that the worker will do until they are fully recovered and able to do their own job again.
Work closely with them to put a plan in place for their return and the plan must be agreed to by both parties. Ask them what they need and put the answers into action.

Resources

Remember: Report notifiable incidents immediately you become aware of them. There are large penalties for not doing so.
Encourage all workers to report all all incidents and near misses by creating an easy-to-use system.

AGWA Resources

Not sure where to start? AGWA has developed a number of resources for you to use. To find these, and all those listed in this post, go to the AGWA website (www.agwa.com.au) and Go to the Technical &Business tab and then Safety Resources you’ll see a section on Safety fact sheets and other documents.

Toolbox Talk topic: Tips how to report an injury.

Always remind workers that safety is everyone’s business, and they responsible for their own safety as well as looking out for their mate’s.