Incident and Hazard Reporting

Incident / Hazard Response, Reporting & Investigation

The University’s WHS P007 Incident and Hazard Reporting and Investigation Protocol provides an overview of incident and hazard reporting.

All incidents relating to work, study, or living on campus at the University must be reported as soon as reasonably practicable after the incident is identified preferably within 24 hours, no matter how minor they are.

All hazards relating to work, study or living on campus at the University must be reported as soon as reasonably practicable.

It is the responsibility of all staff, students, contractors, volunteers, and visitors to report any safety related incidents or hazards they are involved in. UNE staff may report incidents and hazards on behalf of students, contractors, volunteers, and visitors.


Incident Response

Incident - Priority to provide assistance to affected person and obtain first aid or medical treatment as soon as possible.

If serious incident call ‘000’ and then UNE Safety, Security and Information on 6773 2099.

Any other incident/hazard contact UNE Safety, Security and Information 6773 2099.

Hazard – initial response should be to control or isolate hazard until it can be resolved.

If medical treatment is given by a doctor contact your Head of School.

If medically treated by a doctor or the incident “Dangerous Incident” (significant near miss) these could also be a Notifiable Incident under the NSW WHS legislation. If you think this could be possible fit this category contact your supervisor, WHS and Head of School. See the below section “Notifiable Incidents” for further clarity. If the person is likely to not be fit for work on the following day contact needs to be made with WHS and inform your Head of School.

An incident report needs to be raised in SkyTrust within 24 hours. All hazards must be reported as soon as reasonably practicable. See the following section on how to complete this.


Psychological/Mental Health Incident and Hazard Reporting

What is an Incident? “An event that has led to or could have led to (near miss) an injury or illness”.

What is a Hazard? “Anything with the potential to cause harm, injury or illness to a person”.

Psychosocial hazards at work are aspects of work and situations that may cause a stress response which in turn can lead to psychological or physical harm. These stem from:

  • the way the tasks or job are designed, organised, managed, and supervised
  • tasks or jobs where there are inherent psychosocial hazards and risks
  • the equipment, working environment, or requirements to undertake duties in physically hazardous environments, and
  • social factors at work, workplace relationships, and social interactions.

Psychological or Mental Health Injury includes a range of cognitive, emotional, and behavioural symptoms that interfere with a worker’s life and can significantly affect how they feel, think, behave, and interact with others. Read more at SafeWork NSW.

Confidential Reporting:

To report a psychosocial and/or mental health incident or hazard confidentially, please complete the WHS F021 Hard Copy Incident Report Form or WHS F022 Hard Copy Hazard Report Form and email the completed form to wellbeing@une.edu.au. This inbox is monitored by the Health & Wellbeing Coordinator. If you have any questions please contact Chelsea Hardman on extension x 3127.

For staff counselling please access the Employee Assistance Program. Student counselling can be accessed here.


Incident and Hazard Reporting

What is an Incident? “An event that has led to or could have led to (near miss) an injury or illness”.

What is a Hazard? “Anything with the potential to cause harm, injury or illness to a person”.

All staff, students, contractors and visitors are required to report incidents and hazards to the University. Skytrust is the secure system used to report which allows the WHS Team to monitor incidents, hazards, investigations and all associated corrective actions.

If the injured person is unable to complete the report their supervisor must complete it on their behalf.

The incident notification and report will automatically be sent to the WHS Team and the supervisor of the staff member involved in or person who raised the incident. If you have any questions about providing incident details please contact whs@une.edu.au.

Staff Reporting

1. Go to SkyTrust

2. Click on 'Sign in with Microsoft'

3. Select your UNE Account

4. Enter your normal UNE username and password

5. Once logged into Skytrust you will see two large tiles that allow reporting of an Incident or Hazard as illustrated in the picture below.

Screen shot of skytrust data entry screen

Alternatively, you can click on 'Safety' in the left hand menu and follow the links to report an incident or hazard.

Screenshot of Skytrust incident and hazard screen

6. Complete the required report with as many details as possible ensuring that information is provided for all sections of the form. The WHS G024 Incident & Hazard Reporting in Skytrust Guideline provides some assistance with what information is required.


Student, Contractor & Visitor Reporting of Incidents and Hazards

In the event that an incident occurs or a hazard is identified under the supervision of an academic, professional, or residential staff member, the UNE staff member is responsible for ensuring a report is submitted via SkyTrust.

In the case of incidents occurring within the University grounds (but not under the supervision of a UNE staff member), the incident (or hazard) should be reported via the forms below and forwarded to the WHS Team.

In the event that the Skytrust system is not accessible Incidents and Hazards can be reported by completing and submitting the relevant WHS F021 Hard Copy Incident Report Form or WHS F022 Hard Copy Hazard Report Form.


Notifiable Incidents

Serious incidents may be considered a 'Notifiable Incident' under safety laws and are required to be reported to and potentially investigated by the relevant state regulator (eg: SafeWork NSW) immediately. A ‘Notifiable Incident’ is an incident when: a person dies; a person experiences a serious injury or illness; or a potentially dangerous incident occurs. The following guide should be used to confirm if serious illness or potentially dangerous incident has occurred - SafeWork Australia – Incident Notification information Sheet. Note that a “dangerous incident” is a near miss and does not required an injury to have occurred. If unsure contact WHS Team to confirm position.

If a notifiable incident has occurred, the WHS Team request the preservation of the incident scene pending further direction from the regulator and/or police.


Provisional Improvement Notices (PINs)

Health and safety representatives can issue a provisional improvement notice.

Health and safety representatives (HSRs) can, under some circumstances, exercise powers if they believe there is, or has been, a contravention of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (WHS Act).

These powers include issuing a provisional improvement notice.

A provisional improvement notice tells the University (the PCBU) that a contravention to the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Act) needs to be addressed as soon as possible.

If you are a HSR, you can issue a PIN requiring a person to:

  • remedy the breach of the Act
  • to prevent a likely contravention of the Act from occurring
  • to remedy the things or operations causing the contravention or likely contravention.

You must first consult with the person responsible for resolving the WHS issue before a PIN can be issued.

The PIN must be provided in writing and meet the requirements of the Act. Any PIN relating to activities at UNE should be sent to whs@une.edu.au.

A PIN template can be found here.

At least eight days must be allowed between the date that the PIN was issued and the date that the PIN needs to be complied with.


Incident and Hazard Investigation

Investigation of Incidents are divided into two (2) categories, Level 1 and Level 2.

A Level 1 Incident is an incident that is not notifiable to the regulator and of a less serious nature, these incidents are to be investigated generally by the supervisor of the person reporting or involved in the incident.

The WHS Team will forward relevant details to the supervisor to assist them with the investigation process which will include the WHS G021 Incident Investigation Level 1 & Skytrust Close-Out Guideline.

A Level 2 Incident is an incident that is either notifiable to the regulator or of a ‘serious nature’ and the investigation should be conducted by a suitably trained ICAM Investigator. The determination of what incidents are deemed a ‘serious nature’ is at the discretion of the WHS Manager in consultation with the WHS Committee and Management Group. The University maintains a number of qualified ICAM Investigators to be used. The WHS G022 Incident Investigation Level 2 ICAM & Skytrust Close-Out Guideline provides assistance of this process.

In the event that an incident occurs involving a Student, Contractor or Visitor under the supervision of an academic, professional, or residential staff member, the relevant UNE staff member is responsible for completing the Level 1 Investigation, if the incident is deemed to be a Level 2 Incident then the Level 2 Investigation process applies as above.

All Hazards are investigated by the WHS Team directly and the WHS G023 Hazard Investigation & Skytrust Close-Out Guideline will provide assistance on this process.


Workers Insurance

The University is committed to providing a work place for all staff that fosters and promotes health and wellbeing. If you are injured or develop an illness through the course of your employment and your work is determined to be a substantial contributing factor to your injury or illness, you may be eligible to receive workers compensation benefits in relation to the injury under the Workplace Injury Management and Workers Compensation Act 1998 and the Workers Compensation Regulation 2016. This legislation provides a system of compensation for workplace injuries, and assists injured workers to return to work.

An overview of the steps to lodging your Workers Insurance Claim are below. For more information see the RTW Program.

1. Go to Safety Hub;


2. Lodge an incident report in SkyTrust. More information about how to lodge an incident here.


3. The incident will be reviewed by the WHS Team.


4. Organise an appointment with your Doctor of choice. (If you haven't already seen them).


5. Once you have your Certificate of Capacity and a tax invoice from your Doctor, send it to wellbeing@une.edu.au


6. The Health and Wellbeing Coordinator will complete a Workers Insurance Claim on your behalf.


7. You will be contacted by the University's insuring agent EML once they have received and processed the claim.

EML is the appointed provider of claims management for iCare.

The Health and Wellbeing Coordinator, Chelsea Hardman, can be contacted via wellbeing@une.edu.au for more information or assistance.

Information about public liability and insurance are managed by Financial Services, please contact insurance@une.edu.au.