What is an incident register?
An incident register is one running log of every incident, injury and near miss at your workplace: what happened, who was involved, what was done straight away and who is following it up. It sits alongside your incident report forms, which capture the detail of each event. Use our free incident register template (Excel) to record and follow up incidents, accidents and near misses.
The register gives you the big picture. It shows what keeps going wrong, which actions are still open and which incidents had to be notified to the regulator. It is also the easiest place to keep your record of notifiable incidents.
Incident register or incident report form?
They do different jobs, and most workplaces need both.
- Incident report form: filled in at the time, one per event, with the full story, witnesses and details. Our free incident report form does this.
- Incident register: one line per incident, summarising the event and tracking the follow-up, so you can see patterns across weeks and months.
What Queensland law says about recording incidents
The Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld) sets out what must be notified and recorded when a notifiable incident happens, and the Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 (Qld) does the same for electrical incidents. Neither sets a format for your internal incident register, so the columns below are good practice.
- What is notifiable: section 35 of the Act defines a notifiable incident as the death of a person, a serious injury or illness of a person, or a dangerous incident.
- Serious injury or illness (section 36) includes an injury or illness needing immediate treatment as an in-patient in a hospital, immediate treatment for an amputation, a serious head or eye injury, a serious burn, degloving or scalping, a spinal injury, loss of a bodily function or serious lacerations, or medical treatment within 48 hours of exposure to a substance.
- Dangerous incident (section 37) is an incident that exposes a worker or any other person to a serious risk from an immediate or imminent exposure to something on the Act’s list, such as an uncontrolled escape of a substance, an uncontrolled explosion or fire, or the fall or release of plant, a substance or a thing from a height. Some near misses fall into this group, so do not assume a near miss is never notifiable.
- Notify the regulator: under section 38(1), a person conducting a business or undertaking must ensure the regulator is notified immediately after becoming aware that a notifiable incident arising out of the business has occurred. The notice is given by the fastest possible means, by telephone or in writing.
- Keep the record: under section 38(7), you must keep a record of each notifiable incident for at least 5 years from the day the notice is given to the regulator.
- Electrical incidents: under section 292 of the Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 (Qld), a business must ensure the regulator is notified immediately, by the fastest possible means, after becoming aware that a serious electrical incident or dangerous electrical event arising out of the business has occurred, and must keep a record for at least 5 years after the notice is given. A serious electrical incident includes a person being killed by electricity, or shocked or injured by electricity and treated by or under the supervision of a doctor. The WHS Act does not apply to the extent the Electrical Safety Act applies (WHS Act, schedule 1, section 4), so use this rule for electrical incidents.
- Preserve the site: section 39 requires the person with management or control of the workplace to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the site is not disturbed until an inspector arrives or directs otherwise. The section allows exceptions, including helping an injured person and making the site safe.
Workers’ compensation claims and reporting to your insurer follow separate rules, and the register does not replace them.
What counts as an incident?
Record anything that harmed someone or could have: an injury or illness, a near miss, damage to property or plant, an environmental release, and any dangerous incident. A near miss is an event that did not hurt anyone this time but easily could have. Near misses are worth logging because they point to hazards before someone is injured. The code of practice on managing risks recommends that you analyse your records of incidents, near misses, complaints and inspections to find hazards.
Who looks after the register?
Pick one person, such as the safety officer, a supervisor or the business owner, to keep the register tidy and chase open actions. Everyone at the workplace should know how to report, and reports should reach that person quickly, because the duty to notify a notifiable incident applies immediately after you become aware of it. Consult your workers on how reporting will work so it suits the way they work, and make sure contractors on your site know how to report too.
What columns should an incident register have?
| Column | What to record |
|---|---|
| Incident number | A unique reference, such as IR-001, that matches the report form. |
| Date and time | When it happened, and when it was reported. |
| Location | Site, area or piece of plant. |
| People involved | Names and roles of those involved and any witnesses. |
| Type | Injury, illness, near miss, property damage, environmental or dangerous incident. |
| What happened | A short, factual description with no blame. |
| Immediate action | First aid, making the area safe, stopping work. |
| Notifiable? | Yes or no, with the date, time and details of the notice to the regulator if yes. |
| Cause | The contributing factors found in the investigation. |
| Corrective actions | What will be done, who owns it and the due date. |
| Status and close-out | Open or closed, the date closed and who signed it off. |
Keep medical details out of a register that many people can open. Put those in the individual’s confidential file and refer to the report form number instead.
Incident register example
These entries are made up to show the format.
| No. | Date | Location | Type | What happened | Immediate action | Notifiable? | Follow-up | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IR-001 | 03/05 | Workshop | Injury | Worker cut hand on sheet metal edge, first aid only | First aid, edge deburred | No | Cut-resistant gloves issued. Supervisor, 1 week | Closed |
| IR-002 | 11/05 | Site shed | Near miss | Damaged lead found on a grinder in use | Lead removed from service | No | Test leads and tools. Site manager, 2 weeks | Open |
| IR-003 | 19/05 | Yard | Dangerous incident | Steel pipe fell from a rack about 3 m up and landed beside a worker | Area cordoned off, work stopped, site left undisturbed | Yes. Regulator notified immediately, record kept | Investigate. Check rack loading. Manager, 1 week | Open |
How often should you review the incident register?
No law sets a review interval for an internal register, so choose one you will actually keep. A sensible pattern is to go through open actions at every safety meeting or toolbox talk, produce a monthly summary of incidents by type and location, and take a longer look across the year for trends.
The register also feeds the rules on managing risk. Regulation 38 of the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld) requires you to review and, as necessary, revise control measures when a control does not control the risk it was meant to control. Its own example is a notifiable incident that occurs because of the risk. Regulation 38(2)(c) also requires a review when a new relevant hazard or risk is identified. The code of practice on managing risks also recommends analysing records of incidents and near misses to find hazards. For more on why reporting matters, see our guides on reporting injuries and near misses and recording workplace injuries.
Tips for a register people will use
- Make it easy to report: if it takes ten minutes, near misses will go unreported.
- Record facts, not blame. People stop reporting if every entry becomes a telling-off.
- Number every entry and match it to the report form.
- Close the loop. An action without an owner and a date is just a note.
- Keep the notifiable incident records for at least 5 years, as section 38(7) of the Act requires. Records of serious electrical incidents and dangerous electrical events have the same 5-year period under section 292(7) of the Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 (Qld).
Download the free incident register template, edit it in Excel and add your own logo and columns. If you want a written process behind the register, our Incident Management Policy and Procedure Template sets out who reports, who investigates and who closes the loop.
This guide is general information, not legal advice. Check the current law or talk to Workplace Health and Safety Queensland for your situation.
Templates for this job
Ready-to-edit Word and Excel templates for Queensland workplaces.
