sample internal document · 4 sections indexed
Health and safety incident register (sample)
Sample document. Every figure below is invented.
Tree Truck publishes none of this, and a council should not. It was written for this demo to stand in for the incident register a business keeps under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, usually as a spreadsheet with a rich field set that nobody can report from. The field set below follows the shape of a real register; every entry in it is invented and describes roles rather than people, so that no invented incident can attach itself to any person, so the seats have something real-shaped to read. Nothing here is a claim about Tree Truck.
Readable from: Manager, Foreman. Every other seat is refused this document by name.
Section 1
The field set the register captures for every report
Every report captures: report number and incident type, the company and the site address, the date and time of the incident, the foreman in charge of the job, the team members present, who completed the form, the incident details in the reporter's own words, whether an injury occurred, whether it was entered in the accident register, the nature of the injury, whether medical assistance was required, whether the health and safety officer was notified, whether WorkSafe was advised, any property damage, the investigation date and who investigated, the causes and findings, the changes made to procedures as a result, the prevention measures put in place, and two signatures at sign-off, one staff and one management. The register is only worth keeping if the last four fields are filled, because a report without a finding, a procedure change and a sign-off is a record that something happened and nothing followed.
Section 2
Sample entries, invented, described by role and never by name
Two sample entries, both invented. One manual handling report: a crew member strained their back moving a log by hand on sloping ground where the winch was available and was not used. No medical assistance required, entered in the accident register, WorkSafe not advised, investigation completed by the foreman in charge, finding recorded as time pressure at the end of a run rather than a failure of the lift technique, procedure change recorded as the winch being made a required control on any log over a stated weight on a slope. One vehicle report: a tyre failed on a truck while it was being driven between sites, no injury, property damage limited to the tyre and a guard, investigation finding recorded as a tyre condition that a walk-around check would have found. Neither entry names a person, and neither describes a real event.
Section 3
Investigation, WorkSafe notification and the two signatures
An investigation is opened on every report that involves an injury, property damage, or a near miss with the potential for either, and the investigator is not the person who was involved. A notifiable event under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 is notified to WorkSafe as soon as possible after becoming aware of it, and the scene is not disturbed beyond what is needed to make it safe and help anyone injured. The register records the notification decision either way, with the reason, because a decision not to notify has to be defensible later. Sign-off requires both signatures: the staff member confirming the account is right, and management confirming the finding and the procedure change. A report sitting without both signatures is an open investigation, and the register reports it as one rather than filing it.
Section 4
What the register is asked for, and by whom
The register is the evidence produced when a client asks what happened and what changed. For council work that request is not hypothetical: the council's published street tree strategy commits it to monthly safety audits of tree contractors working on council land, and to monthly traffic safety audits, so a contractor is expected to be able to produce incident history, findings and the resulting procedure changes on the day it is asked. The register is also the source for the internal monthly review: open investigations, reports without sign-off, repeat causes across jobs, and any procedure change that was agreed and not yet made. The point of holding it as data rather than as a folder of scans is that all four of those are questions, and a folder of scans cannot answer a question.