Workplace safety incident
A workplace incident causing serious injury or fatality.
The risk event
A workplace incident causing serious injury or fatality
An incident on company premises or operations that causes a serious injury or worse to a worker, contractor or visitor.
What could cause it, and what stops it
The left-hand side. Each cause is a plausible pathway to the event; the controls beneath it are the barriers that reduce the chance of that pathway completing.
Inadequate hazard identification
Hazards in the work environment are not identified or controlled.
- Hazard assessmentsPreventive · Limited
Documented assessments for each work activity.
- Toolbox talksPreventive · Effective
Daily pre-start safety briefings.
- Near-miss reportingDetective · Limited
Active program with leadership follow-through.
Equipment failure
Plant or equipment fails during use.
- Planned maintenancePreventive · Effective
Scheduled maintenance program with verification.
- Pre-use inspectionsPreventive · Limited
Operator pre-use checks per equipment class.
Worker fatigue
Long hours or shift patterns create fatigue.
- Working hours policyDirective · Effective
Maximum hours and minimum breaks enforced.
- Fatigue management programPreventive · Limited
Active monitoring and intervention program.
Insufficient training / competency
Workers lack the skills to perform the task safely.
- Induction trainingPreventive · Effective
Mandatory induction before site access.
- Competency assessmentsPreventive · Limited
Verification of competency for high-risk tasks.
- Refresher scheduleDirective · Limited
Tracked refresher cycles per competency.
What happens if it occurs, and what limits it
The right-hand side. Each consequence is an outcome the event could produce; the controls beneath it are what contains or recovers from that outcome once the event has already happened.
Injury or fatality
Direct harm to a person.
- First-aid responseCorrective · Effective
Trained first-aiders with response targets.
- Emergency proceduresCorrective · Effective
Tested evacuation and emergency procedures.
- Medical retainerCorrective · Limited
On-call medical support arrangements.
Regulatory investigation
Notifiable incident triggering regulator engagement.
- Incident reporting protocolCorrective · Effective
Statutory reporting workflow with deadlines.
- Regulator liaisonCorrective · Limited
Designated regulator contact and engagement plan.
Operational disruption
Site or activity stop until investigation closes.
- Incident command systemCorrective · Effective
Defined IMS roles and responsibilities.
- Business continuity planCorrective · Limited
Documented work-around plans for site shutdown.
Workforce trust impact
Erosion of workforce confidence in leadership.
- Workforce communication planCorrective · Effective
Open and timely communication on the incident.
- Leadership visibilityCorrective · Limited
Visible leadership presence after incidents.
Where this template starts you
Ratings are a starting position, not a finding. They describe a generic organisation with the controls above in place; yours will differ, and the point of opening the template is to make them yours.
Make it yours
Opening the template loads it into the editor with everything above already in place. Rename the event, cut the causes that do not apply, and re-rate against your own matrix. Exports to PNG, PDF, Excel and PowerPoint are built in.