Notifiable Events: When a Transport Incident Must Be Reported to WorkSafe

When something goes wrong in a transport operation, the first hour is usually spent on the people involved, the vehicle and the freight. The reporting questions come later, and they are easy to get wrong: who has to be told, how quickly, what must be left untouched, and what records must be kept. Getting those steps right protects the business with the regulator, and it also makes an insurance claim much easier to support.

This article explains when a transport incident is a notifiable event under workplace health and safety law, how road crashes fit in, and how the reporting duties sit alongside your obligations to your insurer. It is general information drawn from the primary sources linked below, not legal advice on any particular incident.

What a notifiable event is

Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, a business must notify WorkSafe of certain serious events arising from work. WorkSafe's quick guide, What events need to be notified? (March 2024), describes three categories: a death, a notifiable injury or illness, and a notifiable incident.

A notifiable injury or illness is a specified serious work-related injury or illness. The guide says all injuries or illnesses that require, or would usually require, a person to be admitted to hospital are notifiable, and lists other triggers such as amputations, serious head, eye, burn and spinal injuries, degloving, loss of a bodily function and serious lacerations.

A notifiable incident is an unplanned or uncontrolled work-related incident that exposes people to a serious risk from immediate or imminent exposure to listed events, even if nobody is hurt. The events listed in the guide that are most relevant to transport operations include:

• a substance escaping, spilling or leaking
• the fall or release from height of any plant, substance or thing
• damage to or collapse, overturning, failing or malfunctioning of any plant
• the collapse or partial collapse of a structure

For a heavy vehicle business, those categories can capture events such as a load falling from a forklift or crane during loading, a tanker leaking product in a yard, a HIAB or tail lift failing, or a trailer collapsing on its landing legs. Whether a specific event meets the threshold depends on the facts, and WorkSafe's guide is the place to check.

How quickly, and how to notify

WorkSafe's guide says the business must make sure the regulator is notified as soon as possible after becoming aware of a notifiable event, by the fastest means available. Its notify WorkSafe page says that if there has been a death, you should call WorkSafe immediately on 0800 030 040, which operates around the clock, and that in an emergency you should phone 111 first. Other notifications can be made through WorkSafe's online form, and after hours the phone line handles deaths and serious events needing immediate attention.

In practice, that means someone in the business, not just the driver, needs to know how to notify, and the details need to be somewhere easy to find, such as the incident kit in each cab and at each depot.

Leave the scene alone

The guide also says the business must take all reasonable steps to make sure the site of a notifiable event is not disturbed until an inspector allows normal work to resume, and that no alterations should be made to the plant, vehicles or structures involved. There are exceptions, including helping an injured person, removing a deceased person, making the site safe, following a police direction, or having permission from the regulator or an inspector.

This can feel at odds with the commercial pressure to clear a yard, recover a load or get a unit back on the road. It is worth briefing supervisors in advance so that the instinct to tidy up does not cause a breach.

Keep the records

WorkSafe's guide states that a business must keep records of notifiable events for at least five years from the date the regulator was notified. A simple incident register, with a copy of each notification and any correspondence, meets the purpose and is useful when insurers ask about past incidents at renewal.

Where road crashes fit

Many serious heavy vehicle incidents happen on public roads rather than in a yard. A NZ Police document setting out which agencies investigate which incidents (current at 18 October 2023) lists WorkSafe's workplace incidents as including the use of machinery and vehicles "except for road crashes", and says Police are responsible for investigating road crashes, which have their own procedures.

So a crash on a public road will normally be dealt with by Police. Events at a depot, a customer's site, a port, a forestry block or a quarry, including incidents during loading, unloading and vehicle maintenance, are the ones more likely to fall within WorkSafe's notification regime. If you are unsure whether an event is notifiable, WorkSafe's guidance and helpline are the place to start.

Three situations operators meet

A driver falls from a trailer deck while tarping a load in the yard and is admitted to hospital. Because the injury required hospital admission, it falls within the notifiable injury category described in WorkSafe's guide, and the scene should be left as it is apart from the steps needed to help the driver and make the area safe.

A pallet of product drops from a customer's forklift onto the deck of your trailer at their dock. Nobody is hurt, but the fall of a thing from height that exposes people to serious risk is one of the listed incident types. Two businesses are involved, so WorkSafe's overlapping duties position is relevant: businesses that share duties are expected to co-operate, co-ordinate and consult, and it makes sense to agree in advance with regular customers how incidents at their sites will be handled and notified.

A truck and car collide on a state highway. That is a road crash, which Police investigate, and your immediate reporting steps are to emergency services and then your insurer.

How notification fits with your insurance

Notifying WorkSafe and notifying your insurer are separate obligations. Telling one does not satisfy the other. How each policy works depends on its wording, so the points below are questions to check rather than statements about any particular cover.

Tell your insurer promptly

Check whether your policies require you to notify the insurer of incidents or claims within a set time or as soon as reasonably possible. Read the claims conditions in your motor, carriers liability and liability policies so you know what each one requires, and who to call. Our claims guide and our article on what happens after a truck accident cover the claims process in more detail.

Be careful with admissions

Check whether your policies ask you not to admit liability or agree settlements without the insurer's consent. That kind of condition sits comfortably alongside a duty to notify WorkSafe and co-operate with an investigation, but it is worth being clear about the difference between providing facts and accepting blame. If you are unsure what to say, ask your broker or insurer before signing anything.

Statutory liability and defence costs

A WorkSafe investigation can lead to enforcement action. Whether any part of your programme responds to legal costs connected with a health and safety investigation or prosecution depends entirely on the policies you hold and their wording. If this matters to you, ask your broker to explain what, if anything, your current programme provides. Note that section 29 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 makes insurance against fines and infringement fees under that Act unlawful, so the conversation is about investigation and defence costs, not penalties.

Evidence helps everyone

The same evidence supports the regulator, the police and the insurer: photographs, witness details, telematics and camera footage, pre-trip check records, maintenance history, training records and the details of any loads involved. Preserving the scene for WorkSafe also preserves it for your loss adjuster.

A practical incident plan

• Keep a one-page incident card in every cab and at every depot, with emergency numbers, WorkSafe's 0800 030 040 line, your insurer's claims number and your broker's contact details.
• Name who is responsible for deciding whether an event is notifiable and for making the notification.
• Brief supervisors on preserving the scene and on what can and cannot be moved.
• Keep an incident register and retain notification records for at least five years.
• Make sure drivers know how to capture photographs and witness details safely.
• Review each serious incident and near miss, and record what changed as a result.

Getting your programme reviewed

If you are not sure how your current cover would respond to a serious workplace incident, or what it says about investigation and defence costs, you can Get a Quote and we will pass your enquiry to a Registered Financial Service Provider with heavy vehicle experience.