The Victorian WorkCover Authority (VWA) are tracking invoices related to hospital admissions as a means of identifying whether employers have met their obligations to notify the VWA of notifiable incidents.

The VWA will be targeting incident notification as a strategic priority for their enforcement (i.e. prosecution) activities in 2015.

Employers have a legal duty to notify the VWA immediately after a notifiable incident occurs in their workplace.

The VWA are often informed of incidents through calls by the police, fire brigade or ambulance services, but it is a specific legal responsibility of the employer, or person with management or control of the workplace (e.g. builder), to make the call to the VWA.

One of the specific incidents for which an employer is required to notify the VWA is when an employee is admitted to a hospital as an inpatient overnight. In addition to other sources of information, the VWA are now also using information obtained through the WorkCover scheme to monitor invoices related to hospital admissions when workers lodge their claims for compensation.

Members should familiarise themselves with the list of notifiable incident types and ensure that they call the VWA when a notifiable incident occurs. Notification is required immediately after the incident by calling 132 360.

Employers are also required to subsequently submit an incident notification form within 48 hours of the incident. Some employers have misunderstood the requirement to notify and have instead waited 48 hours.

Incident notification is also required for incidents that expose a person in the immediate vicinity to an immediate risk to their health and safety. For example, if workers have operated in close proximity to a wall collapse the employer is required to notify the VWA immediately, irrespective of whether anyone is actually injured.

The VWA produce a list of incidents that have been reported to them in the fortnightly Safety Soapboxnewsletter. In the last edition of Safety Soapbox for 2014 the VWA listed 72 notifiable incidents that had been reported to them over a period of just two weeks. The list included a number of incidents involving workers sustaining severe lacerations, electrocutions and a number of serious near misses.

Members are reminded that they can contact Master Builders’ OHS Unit for advice as to whether an incident is notifiable. The OHS Unit will assist the member to determine whether the incident is notifiable and also identify, in person if the circumstances warrant, whether any assistance is necessary.

The OHS Unit can be contacted  on (03) 9411 4569.