A national test, and eight different destinations
Work health and safety law in Australia has an unusual split, and this tool is built around it. What has to be notified is answered the same way almost everywhere: the model Work Health and Safety Act defines three categories, and every state and territory except Victoria adopted it with identical wording. Who gets told is answered differently, because there is no single national regulator: New South Wales notifies SafeWork NSW, Queensland notifies Workplace Health and Safety Queensland, and six more bodies cover the rest of the country. So the tool works in two steps, what happened against the national list, then where the work is, which decides the destination that actually matters.
The three categories, read from the Act itself
A notifiable incident is a death, a serious injury or illness, or a dangerous incident, and the last two are each a defined list rather than a judgement call. Serious injury or illness covers immediate treatment as an in-patient in a hospital, an amputation, a serious head, eye or burn injury, degloving or scalping, a spinal injury, loss of a bodily function, serious lacerations, or medical treatment within 48 hours of a substance exposure. Dangerous incident covers an uncontrolled escape of a substance, gas or pressure, an explosion or fire, electric shock, a fall or release from height, the collapse or failure of plant that has to be authorised for use, a structure or excavation collapse, or an inrush or ventilation failure underground, and none of those need an injury to have happened at all. The Act adds a final limb, any other event prescribed by the regulations, with no fixed wording to put on a tick box.
Immediately, by phone or in writing, kept for five years
Section 38 sets the mechanics out precisely. Notice has to reach the regulator immediately after the business becomes aware of the incident, by the fastest possible means: telephone or writing. Where notice is given by phone and the regulator then asks for it in writing, that written notice is due within 48 hours, and the clock runs from the request, not from the incident. Whatever happens next, the incident has to be kept on record for at least five years from the day notice was given, whether or not a written notice was ever asked for.
Victoria runs on a different Act
Victoria never adopted the model WHS laws, the position this site's SWMS builder already states for the safe work method statement duty. Its notification duty sits in the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004, administered by WorkSafe Victoria rather than under the categories above. The shape rhymes: death, a set of injuries needing specific treatment, a set of dangerous circumstances, the same immediate notification, and the same 48 hour and five year figures on WorkSafe Victoria's own current guidance. What is not claimed here is a paragraph for paragraph match with the model Act, because Victoria's own Act was not read section by section the way New South Wales's and Queensland's were. Select Victoria and the tool says so, rather than treating the model list as if it applied unchanged.
The December 2025 amendments are not law yet
Safe Work Australia published amendments to the model WHS Act in December 2025 that would add violent incidents including sexual assault, work-related suicide and attempted suicide, dangerous incidents involving mobile plant and falls, and extended worker absences of 15 or more calendar days. That is worth knowing, and it is not something this tool checks against, because none of it is in force anywhere yet. Safe Work Australia's own page says the changes apply only once each state and territory adopts them, on its own timetable, and none has yet. The three categories above remain today's test until that changes.
What this will not do
It will not tell you an incident is not notifiable. The three lists are the whole of the national test, but they do not describe every situation a workplace can produce, and telling somebody to stand down when it was wrong would be making the one call that belongs to the regulator. So a match against a category is named plainly, because that is checklist matching against a published list rather than a guess. An empty result is shown as exactly that, nothing ticked yet, rather than dressed up as an answer. Either way, the regulator named on the page is the one to contact if there is any doubt.
What you tick is never sent anywhere
Everything here runs in your browser. What you tick is never sent anywhere, there is no account, and closing the tab clears it. That is worth stating plainly on a page somebody might be using in the minutes after something has gone wrong at work.
Common questions
What exactly counts as a notifiable incident?
Three things, under the model WHS Act: a death, a serious injury or illness, or a dangerous incident. The last two are each a defined list rather than a general description. Serious injury or illness means treatment for something specific: an in-patient hospital stay, an amputation, a serious head, eye or burn injury, degloving or scalping, a spinal injury, loss of a bodily function, serious lacerations, or medical treatment within 48 hours of a substance exposure. Dangerous incident means an uncontrolled escape of a substance, gas or pressure, an explosion or fire, electric shock, a fall or release from height, the failure of plant that has to be authorised for use, a structure or excavation collapse, or an inrush or ventilation failure underground, and it counts whether or not anyone was hurt.
How quickly does the regulator need to be told, and how?
Immediately, once the business becomes aware of it, by the fastest possible means: telephone or in writing. Section 38 of the model WHS Act sets this out precisely. If notice is given by phone and the regulator then asks for it in writing, that written notice is due within 48 hours of the request being made, not within 48 hours of the incident itself. Most free guides mention the 48 hours without saying what it runs from, which is the part worth getting right.
How long do the records need to be kept?
At least 5 years from the day notice of the incident was given to the regulator. That is a separate duty from the notification itself, and it applies to every notifiable incident, not only the ones where a written notice was requested.
Does Victoria work the same way?
No. Victoria never adopted the model WHS laws, the same position this site's SWMS builder already states for the safe work method statement duty. Its equivalent duty sits in the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004, section 37, run by WorkSafe Victoria. The shape is similar: death, a set of injuries needing specific treatment, and a set of dangerous circumstances, notified immediately with a 48 hour written notice and the same 5 year record keeping on WorkSafe Victoria's own current guidance. What is not claimed here is a paragraph for paragraph match with the model Act, because Victoria's own Act was not read section by section the way New South Wales's and Queensland's were, so a match on this page is a reason to check WorkSafe Victoria's guidance directly.
Is this the same thing as the UK accident report tool?
No. They rest on completely different law. The UK tool works out what RIDDOR asks for, with its own specified injuries list and its own 10 and 15 day deadlines. This one works out what the model WHS Act asks for, with a different list of categories and an immediate notification duty rather than a multi-day one. Reading one to answer a question about the other gives a wrong answer, not merely an unfamiliar one.
What about the violent incident category some sources mention?
That is real, but it is not law yet anywhere. Safe Work Australia published amendments to the model WHS Act in December 2025 that would add violent incidents including sexual assault, work-related suicide and attempted suicide, dangerous incidents involving mobile plant and falls, and extended worker absences of 15 or more calendar days. Safe Work Australia's own guidance says those changes take legal effect only once each state and territory adopts them into its own law, on that jurisdiction's own timetable, and none had by the time this was checked. The three categories on this page remain today's test. Check with your own regulator before relying on the new ones.
If nothing I have ticked matches, does that mean I do not need to report it?
No, and this tool will not say that. The three categories are the model Act's own list, and an empty tick list here is not the same as a clean bill of health: the two lists do not describe every situation a workplace can produce. If you are unsure, or something happened that is not covered by either list, contact the regulator for where you are working and describe what happened. The decision is theirs.
Is anything I enter uploaded anywhere?
No, and on this one that is rather the point. You are working out whether something that has just happened on your site is notifiable, which means you are typing the details of an incident before the regulator has been told and quite possibly before anybody else has. All of it runs in your browser, nothing is sent, nothing is stored and there is no account, so the check leaves no record anywhere but your own screen. What you do next is still your duty. This only tells you whether the duty has been triggered.