Safety hazard and incident reports
The short answer
This report exists for the paper trail. Something dangerous was spotted or went wrong, and the timestamp and the photos carry the weight. Note clearly: an internal report is not a substitute for notifying your WHS regulator when an incident is notifiable.
Notification and reporting are different things
Serious incidents are notifiable to your state work health and safety regulator, and that obligation runs on its own timeline regardless of what you write internally. Filling in a hazard report does not discharge it. If something has happened that might be notifiable, contact the regulator first and write the report second.
The timestamp is the point
Everything else on this report can be reconstructed later. The time it was observed cannot. Record it precisely, default it to now, and let it be edited only deliberately. A hazard report written up three days afterwards with a guessed time is worth very little.
Immediate action taken is the field people skip
What did you do to make it safe on the spot? Isolated it, barricaded it, tagged it out, sent everyone off the area, or nothing because it was not yours to touch. That single line is what shows a hazard was managed rather than merely noticed.
Escalation needs a name
If it needs escalating, record who to. "Escalated to management" is not a record. A name and a time is.
Who is responsible for what
Whoever observes the hazard or incident records it, as soon as practicable. The business acts on it and retains it. Notification of a serious incident to the WHS regulator is a separate legal obligation on the person conducting the business or undertaking.
What the report should record
- What happened, described plainly
- Date and time observed, precise, not rounded to the day
- Exact location on site
- Severity: low, medium, high or critical
- Immediate action taken to make it safe
- Whether escalation is required, and to whom by name
- Photographs, as many as it takes
- Who observed it and who else was present
- Whether the matter may be notifiable to the WHS regulator
What commonly goes wrong
- Written up days later with an approximate time
- No photographs, on the report type where photographs matter most
- Immediate action left blank, so it reads as though nothing was done
- Severity rated low to avoid paperwork
- Treated as having discharged a notification obligation that it does not discharge
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Common questions
Does a hazard report satisfy my obligation to notify the regulator?
No. Serious incidents are notifiable to your state work health and safety regulator under a separate obligation with its own timeframe. An internal report does not replace it.
How quickly should a hazard report be written?
At the time, or as close to it as practicable. The observed date and time is the field that carries the weight and it is the one thing that cannot be reconstructed accurately later.
What severity should I use?
Rate what you actually saw. Understating severity to keep the paperwork light defeats the purpose of having the record at all.
Who should the report go to?
Whoever in the business can act on it, named. Escalation recorded without a name is not a record of escalation.
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Last reviewed: September 2026. General information for tradespeople, not legal advice. Standards and regulations change. Governing references for this page: Work health and safety legislation in your state or territory. Incident notification obligations sit outside this report.. Confirm the current position with your state WHS regulator before you rely on it.