Recording and Reporting Injuries and Illness

At St Joseph's School, recording and reporting injuries and illness (including accidents, near misses, and notifiable events) enables the board to meet their primary duty of care and monitor worker health and workplace conditions. Accurate and timely recording and reporting allows the board to identify patterns and improve health and safety systems, where needed (e.g. minimising risks, preventing other incidents). This ensures as far as is reasonably practicable the health and safety of workers and that the health and safety of others affected by school operations is not put at risk (Health and Safety at Work Act 2015). This also helps the board to ensure that the school is a physically and emotionally safe place (Education and Training Act 2020).

The school has processes in place for the board to receive and consider information regarding injuries and illness (including accidents, near misses and notifiable events. Our recording and reporting processes apply to everyone at school and school-related activities and are in keeping with our privacy and records retention policies.

Record keeping

We record injuries or illness that require first aid treatment and/or contacting parents/caregivers and/or emergency contacts. We also record accidents, near misses, and notifiable events. We record relevant information as soon as possible after an incident.

All staff are responsible for recording accidents, injuries, and illnesses they deal with, and the injury and incident register is maintained by the office manager and kept in the office.

Reporting and investigating

Relevant staff are informed about injuries and illness (including accidents and near misses) as part of our response to managing an incident. See Managing Injuries and Illness.

The principal and board are informed as soon as possible of notifiable events and serious incidents (including incidents that may result in media attention or need legal action).

If an incident requires police involvement, we communicate with the police about appropriate actions. In the event of death, we notify the police (Coroners Act 2006).

If an infectious disease requires notification, we follow our school policy. See Infectious Diseases.

Reporting to WorkSafe

As required by the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, the board (as the PCBU) notifies WorkSafe as soon as possible after they become aware of a notifiable event arising from school operations (s 56). We preserve the site where the notifiable event occurred (s 55) and keep a record of the notifiable event (s 57).

At St Joseph's School, reporting to WorkSafe is delegated to the principal, who ensures the board chair is also informed. If the principal was involved in the event, reporting to WorkSafe becomes the responsibility of the board chair.

If multiple PCBUs are involved, we communicate with them to decide who will notify WorkSafe. Only one PCBU needs to notify WorkSafe, but all PCBUs are responsible for ensuring a notification is made. To notify WorkSafe, we follow the WorkSafe notification process – see Notify WorkSafe. We phone WorkSafe on 0800 030 040 (24/7) if the event is a death.

We take all reasonable steps to preserve the site where the notifiable event occurred until we receive notification from WorkSafe that normal work can resume. The only exceptions to this requirement is helping an injured person, removing a deceased person, making the site safe to avoid further injury, or following police or WorkSafe directions.

After notifying WorkSafe, we follow any instructions from them which could include:

continuing to preserve the site
investigating what happened (including potential causes)
reviewing health and safety systems
identifying what actions need to be taken to minimise risks
implementing changes to improve health and safety
no further action required.

We keep records of the notifiable event for at least five years from the date WorkSafe was notified.

Investigations

It may be appropriate for the school to debrief and investigate an incident to establish if actions are required to improve school health and safety. Investigations are undertaken with sensitivity to those involved and in keeping with privacy requirements. The board nominates a person or committee to lead each investigation, and outcomes are reported to the board. We may also report collated data about incidents to the board to allow them to review trends, investigate further if needed, and respond in a timely way to reduce the likelihood of incidents happening again.

If a hazard is identified, we follow our risk management processes.
If actions to improve health and safety are identified, we implement any changes as soon as possible and communicate these changes to workers and others as appropriate.
If needed, we follow and update school policies as relevant (e.g. Behaviour Management, Staff Wellbeing and Safety, Student Wellbeing and Safety, Concerns and Complaints Policy).

If WorkSafe, the Ministry of Health, or the police are involved, we follow their lead and advice regarding investigations.

Topic Number: 12358	Last Modified Date: 13/10/2025 16:30:27
Topic Version: 5	Published Date: 30/01/2026

Last review	Term 1 2025
Topic type	Core