Incident and Injury Reporting and Investigation

Build your health and safety program Incident and Emergency Management Incident and Injury Reporting and Investigation

Incident and Emergency Management

To develop your health and safety program:

Review Incident Report Form
Review Incident Investigation Report Form
Watch Needlestick Injury Scenario

Employers must report incidents where a worker is injured and requires medical treatment beyond first aid to WorkSafeBC. They must also investigate all reportable incidents and any events that could have resulted in a serious injury to a worker (near miss).

Employers must take corrective actions to mitigate risks and to prevent similar incidents from recurrence.

Review Incident Report Form

It is good practice to document all workplace incidents, including:

Near-misses (i.e., incidents that did not result in injury but had the potential to cause one).
Minor injuries that did not require medical treatment.

These records support internal tracking and risk management. They also help management complete required forms if the incident becomes reportable. This Incident Report Form can assist with documentation.

Incident Report Form

Know when to report to WorkSafeBC based on injury type

Employers must report work-related injuries or occupational illnesses to WorkSafeBC within three (3) days of the worker reporting the incident when:

The worker required medical treatment (e.g., physician, chiropractor, dentist, naturopathic physician, nurse practitioner, or podiatrist) for the injury or illness beyond first aid.
The worker missed time from work after the day of the injury itself.

Employers must immediately report serious incidents and fatalities by calling the Prevention Information Line at 1-888-621-7233 (24/7). A serious incident includes:

Serious injury to or death of a worker.
Major structural failure or collapse of a building, bridge, tower, crane, hoist, temporary construction support system, or excavation.
Major release of a hazardous substance.
Fire or explosion that had a potential for causing serious injury to a worker.
Blasting incident causing personal injury.
Dangerous incident involving explosives, whether or not there is personal injury.

Review Reporting Methods

The preferred method of reporting to WorkSafeBC is the online tool: Reporting an injury – WorkSafeBC

Other ways of reporting include mail or fax:

If reporting by mail or fax, complete this form: Employer’s Report of Injury or Occupational Disease (form 7)
- Mail to: WorkSafeBC, PO Box 4700 Stn Terminal, Vancouver BC V6B 1J1
- Fax to: 604-233-9777

Workers also need to separately report their injury directly to WorkSafeBC. They can do so online or by phone at 604-231-8888.

For workers at the clinic who are contractors rather than employees (e.g., contracted physicians), any work-related injury must be reported to WorkSafeBC by their own employer, if they have one. Contractors who are sole proprietors do not have an employer. If they wish to seek compensation for a work-related injury, they are responsible for reporting the injury themselves through their optional WorkSafeBC Personal Coverage (if they have it) using the Independent Operator’s Application for Compensation and Report of Injury or Occupational Disease (Form 6/7) from WorkSafeBC, or through another applicable insurance program (such as the Physician Health Program).

Review Incident Investigation Report Form

Employers are legally responsible for conducting investigations related to any of the above reportable incidents that happen in their workplaces and for submitting employer incident investigation reports to WorkSafeBC.

The investigation must be conducted by someone knowledgeable about the type of work involved and include the participation of both employer and worker representatives.

After an incident, the employer must:

Immediately undertake a preliminary investigation to identify any unsafe conditions, acts, or procedures that significantly contributed to it.
Prepare a preliminary investigation report within 48 hours of the incident and submit it to WorkSafeBC if requested.

Following the preliminary investigation, the employer must:

Conduct a full investigation to determine the causes of the incident.
Prepare and submit a full investigation report to WorkSafeBC within 30 days of the incident.

Following both preliminary and full investigations, the employer must:

Promptly take any necessary corrective action to prevent similar incidents.

Investigation and corrective action reports should be provided to the Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committee (JOHSC) or worker representative, if one exists. If not, the reports must be posted in a visible area of the workplace.