How do you report a notifiable incident to WorkSafe Victoria?

If a notifiable incident occurs at a Victorian workplace under an employer's or self-employed person's management and control, notify WorkSafe Victoria immediately after becoming aware of it. WorkSafe's current incident-notification guidance gives 13 23 60 as the 24-hour notification number. Preserve the site until an inspector arrives or directs otherwise, except for the limited actions needed to protect a person, help an injured person, make the site safe or prevent another incident. Provide written notification within 48 hours and keep the written record for at least five years. These are distinct actions: an internal incident report does not replace the call, and the call does not replace the written record.

This guide applies to Victoria's Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 process. It does not use the model WHS notification rules as a substitute. A NSW site must follow its own regulator process; do not treat this Victorian workflow as a national template. The verified Complys AU incident-reporting page is the product owner for keeping records and actions, while this guide owns the legal decision and regulator workflow.

First: help people and make immediate danger safe

Call emergency services when needed and provide first aid. Stop work that could expose anyone to further harm. Secure access to a dangerous area without unnecessarily disturbing evidence. Arrange a supervisor or other accountable person to record the time of the event, when the business became aware of it and what was done for immediate safety. Do not wait for a complete investigation before deciding whether urgent WorkSafe notification is required.

An incident can have more than one duty holder. WorkSafe Victoria says that an employer or self-employed person with management and control of a workplace has the notification duty; more than one employer may have duties where each has relevant management and control. A supervisor can carry out the call, but delegated performance does not remove the employer's legal responsibility to ensure notification is made. On a shared construction site, coordinate quickly with the principal contractor and other employers while checking each party's own duty. WorkSafe's responsibility explanation is the starting point.

Decide whether the incident is notifiable

Victoria's WorkSafe guidance groups notifiable incidents into two broad types: incidents involving death or a specified level of medical treatment, and incidents that expose a person to a serious risk from an immediate or imminent hazard. The trigger is not simply whether someone filled in an accident form, took time off, or wanted to make a claim.

Examples in WorkSafe's current guidance include a death; an inpatient hospital admission requiring immediate treatment; immediate treatment for listed serious injuries such as amputations, serious head or eye injury, electric shock, spinal injury, loss of bodily function or serious lacerations; and medical treatment within 48 hours after exposure to a substance. The source describes the precise definitions and examples. Do not infer that every GP visit or first-aid treatment automatically qualifies, or that a dangerous near miss is exempt merely because nobody was injured.

The serious-risk group includes specified events such as uncontrolled substance escape, explosion or fire, electric shock, release of an object from height, failure of certain plant, structural or excavation collapse, and other prescribed events where a person is exposed to the required level of risk. WorkSafe's page includes detailed plant categories and notes changes that commenced in July 2024. Use that current list for the actual incident; do not copy an older generic checklist that may omit plant or equipment now covered.

Example: an uninjured worker near a failed lifting machine

A lifting machine fails and drops a load close to a worker, who escapes injury. The absence of injury does not settle the notification question. The responsible employer should consider whether the event falls within WorkSafe's listed plant-failure or falling-object categories and whether it exposed a person to a serious risk from an immediate or imminent hazard. The business should make the urgent phone call if the trigger appears met or the facts are uncertain, preserve the site subject to safety exceptions, and document the advice and subsequent written steps. The exact classification depends on the equipment and incident facts.

WorkSafe says that when the business remains uncertain after reviewing the guidance, it should report the incident anyway. That is sensible in a time-critical case, but it is not a licence to label every routine near miss as legally notifiable. Record the facts and, where necessary, ask the regulator or a qualified adviser.

Notify immediately by the current WorkSafe channel

WorkSafe Victoria's current page states that the employer or self-employed person must notify immediately after becoming aware of a notifiable incident at a workplace under their management and control. Its 24-hour phone channel is 13 23 60. Have concise facts ready: location, time, who is affected, type of event, hazards still present, emergency response and a contact who can help an inspector. Do not hold the call while you obtain a perfect timeline or fault finding.

Record when the call was made, who called, the WorkSafe contact or reference provided, what was said, and any direction about the site. If a line fails or the current channel changes, use the regulator's current published instructions and preserve evidence of the attempt. A compliance platform can store the call record; it cannot make the statutory call for the employer unless that capability has been separately established and authorised.

Some events also have notification duties under other Victorian legislation or to other regulators. The WorkSafe page flags dangerous goods, explosives and other sector regulators. A call to WorkSafe under the OHS Act does not automatically satisfy every separate reporting duty. Identify those parallel duties promptly, rather than waiting until the 48-hour written form is finished.

Preserve the site without preventing aid or safety action

WorkSafe says the required notifier must preserve the incident site until an inspector arrives or directs otherwise. The site includes the area of the event and relevant plant, escaped substances, debris and objects that fell as a result. Restrict unnecessary access, prevent cleanup or equipment restart, keep logs and ask workers to leave potentially relevant items in place. Photographing from a safe position can help preserve facts, but photography is not permission to move evidence.

There are narrow exceptions. The site may be disturbed to protect a person's health or safety, aid an injured person, take essential action to make it safe, or prevent a further incident. Document what was changed, why, when and by whom. A business should never delay rescuing a person to preserve an evidentiary scene. Equally, routine production restart or tidying for a client visit is not an exception. WorkSafe's site-preservation section also discusses specific dangerous-goods fire and explosion circumstances and inspector directions.

Get the inspector's direction before reopening or moving affected plant where possible. A direction may be specific to part of the site. Do not assume that a phone notification releases the site. If an inspector issues a non-disturbance notice, follow its scope and period. Continue to control live hazards while preserving the scene so far as the law requires.

Send the written record within 48 hours

The phone notice is followed by written notification within 48 hours. WorkSafe's current notifiable-incident page and linked form explain what to provide. The written record should be factually precise, identifying the site, date, people involved, event, injury or exposure, immediate response and available contact details. Distinguish what was observed from an early hypothesis. An incident investigation can develop later; do not present speculation as a proven cause merely to complete the form.

Assign one owner to make sure the written step is completed and submitted through the current channel. Check the current form or online instructions on the day because regulator channels can change. Keep a copy of the completed form and submission evidence. If additional facts emerge, follow the regulator's direction on corrections or supplements; do not silently replace the earlier version in the internal file.

The 48-hour period is not a substitute for immediate oral notification. A business that submits the form the next day but did not call immediately may still have missed the first duty. Likewise, an internal email to management is not written notice to WorkSafe.

Retain the notification and manage access

WorkSafe Victoria says the completed written notification must be retained for at least five years. Its guidance also identifies people to whom the record must be made available, including inspectors and certain injured or exposed people or representatives. The incident file may also contain witness statements, personal health information and photographs with different sensitivity. Give authorised people the information the law requires, while controlling access to other personal information appropriately.

Link the notification to the incident log, corrective actions, investigation, inspection directions and any related records. Keep the original report and later revisions identifiable. Record who closed a corrective action and how its effectiveness was checked. A notification is an urgent regulatory event, but preventing recurrence depends on investigating the hazard and changing the work where needed.

The verified Complys incident-reporting software describes logging incidents and near misses, storing evidence and tracking corrective actions. It explicitly says the customer makes the regulator notification. Use the software for the records and follow-up it actually supports, not as an assumed automated WorkSafe reporting channel or a legal classification engine.

A concise Victorian response sequence

1. Respond to danger: first aid, emergency services and safe isolation.
2. Capture the facts: time of event and awareness, site, people, hazard and witnesses.
3. Screen the trigger: compare the event with current WorkSafe notifiable-incident categories; escalate uncertainty.
4. Notify immediately: use WorkSafe's current 24-hour phone channel and record the call.
5. Preserve the site: disturb it only within the stated aid and safety exceptions or an inspector's direction.
6. Check parallel duties: dangerous goods, explosives or another regulator may require separate notice.
7. Send written notice: complete the current WorkSafe form within 48 hours and retain submission evidence.
8. Retain and improve: keep the written record for at least five years, investigate, assign controls and review them.

Errors to avoid

• Using a national model-WHS checklist for a Victorian OHS Act decision. Victoria's regime and WorkSafe guidance control.
• Assuming no injury means no report. A serious-risk near miss may be notifiable.
• Waiting for the investigation before calling. The notification duty is immediate after awareness.
• Treating the phone call as the whole process. Written notice and retention follow.
• Cleaning or restarting the scene without permission. Apply only the limited safety/aid exceptions or inspector direction.
• Assuming the principal contractor's call covers every employer. Check each entity's management and control and duty.
• Assuming Complys submits to the regulator. Its verified role is internal records and actions.

Next step

Put the WorkSafe Victoria incident-notification guidance into the workplace's emergency procedure, assign the immediate caller and written-form owner, and test that the team knows how to preserve a site safely. Check the current law and WorkSafe instructions at the time of any real event. Use Complys incident-reporting software where its verified record and corrective-action functions fit the process, while the employer remains responsible for the statutory notice.

For the related Complys product, see Incident Reporting Software. This guide is general information, not legal advice; verify current requirements against the official sources linked above.