10.0 – Incident Reporting

It is Griffin Properties’ policy to thoroughly investigate all incidents that result in injury or property damage or that could have resulted in serious injury or property damage.

The purpose of such investigation shall be to determine the causes of the incident so that appropriate action can be taken to prevent recurrence.

Supervisors, with the safety rep/committee, shall be responsible for conducting investigations and submitting reports to the manager.

The manager shall determine and implement appropriate measures to prevent recurrence.

The policies contained within this manual do not take precedence over the Occupational Health and Safety Act, regulations and codes of practice. All employees should be familiar with the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

DEFINITIONS

  • NEAR MISS – A work related incident that could have caused bodily harm but did not result in an injury or illness.
  • FIRST AID – A work related injury or illness that is limited to first aid treatment.
  • RECORD-ABLE INJURY/ILLNESS (RI) – A work related injury or illness that requires medical treatment, prescriptions, restricted work activity, or results in loss of consciousness.
  • LOST TIME ACCIDENT (LTA) – A work related injury or illness that prevents returning to work on the next scheduled work day.  The number of lost time days does not include the day of injury or illness.
  • FATALITY – A work related injury or illness that results in death.
  • DISABILITY – A non-work-related injury or illness that prevents returning to work for a period that extends beyond 40 hours.
  • MULTI-CAUSE INVESTIGATION (MCI) – A thorough incident investigation to determine the immediate and underlying basic causes and to identify the necessary action to be taken to prevent re-occurrence.
  • IMMEDIATE CAUSE – The specific unsafe behavior or unsafe condition that contributed to the incident.
  • BASIC CAUSE – The underlying system failure that allowed the unsafe behavior or unsafe condition to develop.

GENERAL

Injured employees who leave the work site without reporting and/or completing required documentation will be considered absent from work and:

  • will not receive pay for any missed time
  • may be subject to disciplinary action
  • may have a formal objection filed against any claims for compensation benefits

All near misses will be reported immediately to the site supervisor or designate.

INJURY REPORTING

All workers will:

  • immediately report to site supervisor or designate
  • then report to the first aid location
  • notify head office (first thing next business day) if medical sought after-hours

Upon notification of injury, the site supervisor or designate will fill an incident investigation seeking the details as to what happened, the nature of the injury, and how to prevent re-occurrence. The head office is to be notified if the injured worker received medical attention so notification can be submitted to WorkSafeBC.

The employer will ensure all serious incidents that caused or had the potential to cause worker hospitalization or fatality are reported and handled in accordance with the Workers Compensation Act — Section 172.

REPORTING OF ACCIDENTS

It is vital to the effectiveness of the Occupational Health and Safety Program that employees report all accidents and near misses.  The manner of the report and the action taken as a result of the report will differ depending on the magnitude of the accident.

All accidents, first aids and near misses will be documented and reported to the Site Supervisor as soon as practicable. Immediately if possible.

The Site Supervisor will then report to the head office.

At the end of every project (or monthly) for long-term jobs, the site supervisor will report the head office, a summary of:

  • First Aids
  • Medical Aids
  • Lost Time Incident
  • Near Misses
  • Accidents

To ensure all work-related incidents, injuries or illnesses are reported, responded to, investigated, classified and action is taken to prevent recurrence.

Documentation on the Monthly Incident Summary is to be completed and sent to the head office at the end of each month.

The purpose of investigations of workplace incidents/accidents are to:

  • Determine the cause(s) (immediate and basic- ROOT)
  • Identify any unsafe conditions or unsafe acts
  • Identify unsafe job procedures that contribute to the result, and
  • Develop corrective action to prevent recurrence on the incident/accident documentation.

Management will ensure that accident investigation recommendations are used as a basis for crew talks

Management will ensure that members of the accident investigation team receive adequate training to conduct effective investigations.  This training will include:

  • Definition of incidents and accidents, and who, what, when, where and why to investigate
  • Conducting investigation interviews
  • Completing the accident investigation form that includes primary and secondary causes
  • Recommending corrective action
  • Reviewing and signing off on any accident investigation form that is generated on their job site
  • If no Management representation is available on our job sites the company Safety Officer will review and signed off on inspection reports that are sent to the safety department

The safety committee will review each accident/incident investigation for the purpose of:

  • Making further recommendations
  • Ensuring crew talks are conducted
  • Reviewing accident trends
DEFINITION OF AN ACCIDENT

Any unintended occurrence which results in injury to a person, or damage to equipment, facility or the environment. It also includes a willful and intentional act, not being the act of the worker, and also includes a fortuitous event occasioned by a physical or natural cause.   

An accident will be treated as a serious accident under any of the following conditions and must be reported to WorkSafeBC and the Griffin Properties Safety Officer immediately.

Immediate notice of certain accidents as per WorkSafeBC Regulations 172

Griffin Properties head office must:

  1. Immediately notify the Board of the occurrence of any accident that
    • a)resulted in serious injury to or the death of a worker,
    • b) involved a major structural failure or collapse of a building, bridge, tower, crane, hoist, temporary construction support system or excavation,
    • c) involved the major release of a hazardous substance, or (d) was an incident required by regulation to be reported.
  2. Except as otherwise directed by an officer of the Board or a peace officer, a person must not disturb the scene of an accident that is reportable under subsection (1) except so far as is necessary to
    • a) attend to persons injured or killed,
    • b) prevent further injuries or death, or
    • c) protect property that is endangered as a result of the accident.
Incidents that must be investigated 173

Griffin Properties must immediately undertake an investigation into the cause of any accident or other incident that:

  • a) is required to be reported by section 172,
  • b) resulted in injury to a worker requiring medical treatment,
  • c) did not involve injury to a worker, or involved only minor injury not requiring medical treatment, but had a potential for causing serious injury to a worker, or
  • d) was an incident required by regulation to be investigated.

Does not apply in the case of a vehicle accident occurring on a public street or highway.

Investigation process 174
  1.  An investigation required under this Division must be carried out by persons knowledgeable about the type of work involved and, if they are reasonably available, with the participation of the employer or a representative of the employer and a worker representative.
  2. As far as possible, the investigation must
    • a) determine the cause or causes of the incident,
    • b) identify any unsafe conditions, acts or procedures that contributed in any manner to the incident, and
    • c) if unsafe conditions, acts or procedures are identified, recommend corrective action to prevent similar incidents.
  3. Our company must make every reasonable effort to have available for interview by a person conducting the investigation, or by an officer, all witnesses to the incident and any other persons whose presence might be necessary for a proper investigation of the incident.
  4. Griffin Properties must record the names, addresses and telephone numbers of persons referred to in subsection (3).
Incident investigation report 175
  1. As part of an investigation required by this Division Griffin Properties must ensure that an incident investigation report is prepared in accordance with the regulations.
  2. Provide a copy of the incident investigation report to
    • a) the joint committee or worker representative, as applicable, and
    • b) the Board.

Follow-up action and report 176

  1. Following an investigation under this Division, must without undue delay undertake any corrective action required to prevent recurrence of similar incidents.
  2. As soon as is reasonably practicable, prepare a report of the action taken under subsection (1) and
    • a) provide the report to the joint committee or worker representative, as applicable, or
    • b) if there is no joint committee or worker representative, post the report at the workplace.

PROCEDURE FOR REPORTING SERIOUS ACCIDENTS

  1. In the event of fatality notify local police immediately.  Verify that the Police will notify the coroner.
  2. Notify the police if there is any suspicion that foul play might be involved in the accident.
  3. Notify immediately:
    • a) Appropriate government regulatory/response agencies,
    • b) Local Workers’ Compensation Board office,
    • c) Griffin Properties head office,
    • d) Owner representative on site
When the Serious Accident involves injuries that require the worker to lose time or require more than on-site First Aid complete the following:
Employers Report of Injury or Illness (W.C.B Form 7)

The Employer’s Report of Injury or Industrial Disease form must be completed and forwarded to the nearest W.C.B office as soon as possible and in no case more than three days following notification of the employee’s injury.  Failure to meet the reporting deadline may result in considerable penalties to GRIFFIN therefore, where worker(s) are injured or become ill, completion of this report should be given high priority following any accident.  A copy of the form is included in the forms section.

First Aid Report (W.C.B Form 7A)

The First Aid Attendant or the person administrating first aid to the injured worker must complete the First Aid Report.  A copy of the form is included at the end of the section.  As with the Employer’s Report of Injury or Industrial Disease form, the First Aid Report must be completed within three days and the two forms must be forwarded together to the W.C.B.

REPORTING NEAR MISSES

Quick reporting and evaluation of incidents, which had the potential to be serious accidents, can avoid accidents in the future.  All near misses should be reported to the Site Supervisor and a Flash Report Form to be completed by the supervisor or designate.  This will help prevent any future incidents of similar nature to establish precautionary measure that should be in place.

FOLLOW UP

All completed investigations, including near misses, will be reviewed and a follow-up action plan created as applicable by the safety/IM coordinator and/or safety committee.

The topics of all completed investigations and any follow-up action plans will be communicated to affected workers as soon as practicable or at the next crew talk in accordance with company procedure.

FORMS

NEAR MISS
Form Completed By Storage Location
Incident Investigation Supervisor or Designate Original sent to head office immediately
INJURED WORKER
Form Completed By Storage Location
First Aid Record Form 7A First Aid Attendant Original sent to head office immediately (kept confidential for 3 years) — no copies kept onsite
Witness Statement Worker Original sent to head office immediately
Incident Investigation Supervisor or Designate Original sent to head office immediately
INJURED WORKER SEEKING MEDICAL
Form Completed By Process
RTW Package Doctor/Worker/Supervisor Sent with injured worker to the medical/treatment facility
Full Investigation Supervisor or Designate Original sent to head office immediately
Witness Statement Worker Original sent to head office immediately
Form 7 Employer’s Representative Filed electronically or faxed to WorkSafeBC within 72 hours of injury