Incident Reporting Procedure: COID Act Compliance

Incident reporting procedure: COIDA Compliance

The correct Incident Reporting Procedure has to be followed when an incident of any near miss, minor or fatal incident has occurred. It is also important that you know exactly who to report an accident and incident to. All this is stipulated in the COID Act (Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Amendment Act, No 61 of 1997) that governs compensation for occupational injuries and diseases.

The big question is who has the duty of reporting an incident or accident according to the COIDA?


Sign up now for The Injury On Duty and COID Support Package.

MAKROSAFE have been assisting clients for more than 23 years with incident reporting, contact us now to find out how we can assist you.
To assist you with accident and incident reporting procedures at work, click on the image below:
MAKROSAFE / SAFETYWALLET / MY SAFETY SHOP are in Partnership.

Incident reporting procedure has many steps hence; many parties are involved in incident reporting

1. All members of staff

Employees are the most vulnerable, to incidents, of all parties in the workplace. It is likely that incidents will happen at their workstations. According to the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act (COIDA), employees are required by law to report all near misses and incidents to their supervisor, Health and Safety Representative or any authority managing them. Employees must comply with the Act which states that incidents must be reported as soon as possible. The correct Incident Reporting Procedure stated in the Act says, all incidents must be reported before the end of the working shift of the particular day the incident occurred.

2. Supervisors / Health and Safety Representative

In the Incident Reporting Procedure, to meet compliance, the employees’ superiors (H&S representatives/supervisors) must fill in an Incident Report Form detailing the incident as per the report provided by the employee/s. The superior is responsible for reporting about such incident to the employer. He must also hand the filled incident report form to the employer.

3. The Employer

The employer is stipulated by the COIDA to report any incident that result in disablement, death, unconsciousness to the Department of Employment and Labour. These types of accidents are termed as 'reportable injury' in terms of section 24 of the Occupational Health & Safety Act 85 of 1993. An employer must meet compliance standards by using the correct form to report such incident called Annexure 1 form and address it to the Inspector or Occupational Health and Safety division at the Department of Employment and Labour. The above mentioned are the correct channels that an employer must follow according to a proper Incident Investigation Procedure so as to be considered to be compliant.

If the accident is fatal, an Inspector from the Department of Employment and Labour will be sent to conduct an inspection and his/her findings of the accident will be reported to the Chief Commissioner.

If the incident is minor or a near miss, the employer must refer the matter, for investigation, to the health and safety committee. The health and safety committee is expected to launch an internal investigation into the matter. They should establish the root cause and they should take action. They must implement control measures to prevent re-occurrence of the same incident.

The employer also has the duty to report an incident that needs compensation to the Compensation Authority or the relevant authority as soon as possible. They expect to receive the required documents too.

All parties of the workplace have a duty to fulfill in the Incident Investigation Procedure, by correctly reporting incidents to their next superior in the authority hierarchy in the workplace. It is essential for all parties involved to know their roles and responsibility to ensure that an efficient incident reporting procedure is followed.

Incident reporting is a legal requirement and the correct compliant procedures and steps should be followed. MAKROSAFE can be of great assistance in ensuring that a proper Incident Reporting Procedure is drafted, communicated and implemented, when needed, for just about any workplace. Employees are also encouraged to participate in the MAKROSAFE training programs. We can also help you with the hassles of dealing with the DoeL and all the paperwork. 

Sign up now with The Injury On Duty and COID Support Package from My Safety Shop.

Click on the image below to find a SafetyWallet Solution that suits your business and get the 21 benefits along with the subscription: