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Discussion on
Incident Management and Analysis

Activities/Obligations

Workplace incidents are of course undesirable but, when they occur, there is information to manage and processes to follow.

You will need to record the relevant details of each incident: date, time, the affected person, location, what was being done at the time, what happened, what injury or disease resulted, etc.

There may be people or organisations that need to be notified and there may be a Workers' Compensation Insurance Claim, and possibly worker rehabilitation, to be managed.

An investigation may need to be scheduled.

In the course of an investigation consideration may need to be given to whether there were risks that should have been identified and better controlled beforehand.

If any workplace issues are identified, corrective actions may be needed.

By recording even the most minor incidents you can, over time, build up a set of data which can be analysed to identify any commonalities so that resources can be applied in the most effective manner to minimise the likelihood of future incidents.

Using The Software

The incident management and analysis components of OSHatWork are based on AS 1885, ISO 31000 (AS/NZS 4360), AS 4801 and AS/NZS 4804.

With OSHatWork you can:

  • record comprehensive details about each incident including:
    • incident date, time and type (e.g. "Injury");
    • the affected person;
    • a description of the incident;
    • the affected person's employment details at the time;
    • the assessed risk rating;
    • where the incident occurred, what was being done at the time, and what happened;
    • the nature of injury/disease and bodily location;
    • investigation details including who the investigator is, when the investigation should be completed by, and when the report should be completed by (which will create reminders that appear in the Reminders Viewer);
    • notifications that have been completed or need to be done;
    • all the steps completed, or due to be undertaken, in managing the incident and its associated Workers' Compensation Claim;
    • links to related hazards;
    • links to corresponding risks that were previously identified, or were identified as a result of the incident;
    • links to related incidents (for use when there is an event, such as a motor vehicle accident, which results in multiple affected personnel and therefore multiple incident records);
    • contributing factors (e.g. weather, tiredness, medical condition, etc);
    • corrective actions needed;
    • medical certificates issued to the affected person;
    • the number of full days (or shifts) lost in each month (which will enable ATLR calculations, i.e. Average Time Lost Rate);
    • all related costs (including perceived expenses such as lost production, replacement personnel, etc);
    • Workers' Compensation Claim details;
  • receive reminders for completion of:
    • investigations and the reports on them;
    • corrective actions, and their close-out reviews;
    • notifications;
    • any steps required to manage the incident;
    • medical certificate follow-up appointments;
  • receive reminders to ensure that corrective actions, and their close-out reviews, are completed;
  • manage worker rehabilitation and return-to-work programmes;
  • perform various analyses to gain insights that will enable you to target resources for maximum effect;
  • generate reports on incidents including:
    • full details of one selected incident;
    • a summary list of incidents (e.g. all those reported by a particular person, or in a particular work area, or identified in a particular period, or assessed as being in a particular risk rating, etc);
    • a list of incidents and their corresponding corrective actions, or just the corrective actions for one incident;
    • a contributing factors analysis which helps you to identify the key contributors so that you can take appropriate action to avoid incident occurrences in future;
    • a frequency count analysis which helps you to identify where incidents are most prevalent (e.g. in particular work areas or departments) so that you can investigate the reasons for this and take steps to improve the situation;
    • an analysis of incident costs (or workers' compensation claim amounts) which can help you identify where your highest costs/claims are coming from (e.g. from a particular work task, work area, department, etc);
    • an analysis of incident lost time which, like the cost/claim analysis, can help you identify where your greatest losses are coming from (e.g. from a particular mechanism of injury, work task, work area, etc);
    • a lost time summary/analysis by year and month - for everyone or for just one specified person;
    • a combined analysis which can include a combination of the following:
      • Frequency Counts (ie number of incidents) - LTI's, non-LTI's, etc,
      • Incident Count Ratios (percentage open or closed),
      • Lost Days (or Shifts) and Lost Hours,
      • Days Worked,
      • Frequency Rates (LTIFR, MTIFR, TRIFR),
      • Incidence Rates (LTIIR, MTIIR, TRIIR),
      • Average Time Lost Rate (ATLR),
      • Injury Index,
      • Number of Workers' Compensation Claims,
      • Costs (actual, estimated, total),
      • Workers' Compensation Claim Amounts (claimed, reimbursed, rejected).

More

A complete list of all the OSHatWork Guides is available here.