Tutorial 3: Report an Incident

In this tutorial, you will report a workplace incident, understand the difference between incident types, and see how SteadyOn tracks the investigation process.

Time required: 10 minutes
Prerequisite: Tutorial 2: Add Your First Hazard

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Background: Why incident reporting matters

The HSWA 2015 requires you to keep records of workplace injuries and illnesses. Beyond compliance, incident records are your most valuable source of safety intelligence — patterns in your incidents reveal where your controls are failing.

SteadyOn distinguishes between three types of events:

Type	Description	Example
Incident	An event that caused harm or damage	Worker sprained their ankle on wet floor
Near Miss	An event that could have caused harm but didn’t	Worker slipped but caught themselves
Notifiable Event	An event that must be reported to WorkSafe NZ	Broken bone, hospitalisation, death

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Step 1: Open the Incident Register

1. Click Incidents in the left sidebar
2. You will see the Incident Register

Near the top, you will also see your Public Reporting Link — this is a URL you can share with workers, visitors, or the public so they can report incidents without needing a SteadyOn account. We will cover this more in the How-to Guides.

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Step 2: Report an incident

Let’s record the incident that resulted from the wet floor hazard we identified in Tutorial 2.

1. Click Report Incident in the top right

2. Fill in the form:

   Title: Kitchen slip — ankle sprain
   Description: Team member slipped on wet floor near the dishwasher during morning cleanup. Ankle twisted on landing. Treated with first aid on site. No hospital required.
   Type: Incident — harm occurred
   Location: Kitchen
   Date & Time: Set to when the incident occurred

3. Under Related Hazard, select the kitchen wet floor hazard you created in Tutorial 2. This links the incident to the known hazard and builds your evidence record.

4. Immediate Control Measures: Describe what you did right away:
   Cleaned up spill. Placed wet floor sign. Staff reminded of spill procedure.

5. Long-term Corrective Actions:
   Review non-slip matting coverage. Consider kitchen floor resurfacing.

6. Click Report Incident

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Step 3: Attach a photo

Photos are important evidence for incident investigations. If you have a photo of the scene or the injury, attach it now.

1. On the newly created incident, click Add Photo / Video
2. Select the photo from your device
3. The photo is stored securely and attached to this incident record

You can attach up to 5 photos or videos per incident.

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Step 4: Understand the investigation status

Your incident now has the status Reported. The full investigation workflow is:

Reported → Under Investigation → Closed

• Reported — the incident has been logged; investigation not yet started
• Under Investigation — someone is actively investigating; findings being gathered
• Closed — investigation complete, corrective actions raised, record finalised

To move the status forward, click the incident title to open it and update the status field.

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Step 5: What happens with notifiable events

If the incident had been a broken bone or hospitalisation, you would select Notifiable Event as the type. SteadyOn then:

1. Shows a warning that you must notify WorkSafe NZ immediately
2. Flags the incident as Red BRAG until the regulator has been notified
3. Maintains a record of the regulatory notification

Important: For notifiable events, you must notify WorkSafe NZ as soon as possible — before the end of the next working day for serious harm. SteadyOn records the notification but does not submit it on your behalf. Visit worksafe.govt.nz to notify.

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What you’ve accomplished

You now know how to:

• ✅ Report an incident, near-miss, or notifiable event
• ✅ Attach photos as evidence
• ✅ Link incidents back to known hazards
• ✅ Understand the investigation workflow

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Next step

Continue to Tutorial 4: Schedule an Inspection to learn how to plan and complete a workplace inspection.