Hazard and Incident Reporting

A Hazard is a situation or thing that has the potential to harm a person.

Items that are considered hazards include:

• Snake Sighting
• Smoking on Campus
• Workstation Assessments
• Uneven pathways/ walkways
• Noise
• Emergency Exits being blocked
• Mould in office spaces
• Thermal comfort – air conditioning issues
• Lighting in office spaces
• Chemical storage overflow
• Missing safety guards on workshop/laboratory equipment.

Report a Hazard

Hazards are everywhere, often hiding in plain site as we go about our daily routine. You might know of a number of hazards such as a wobbly chair in the lunch room, a light switch that's pushed in, or a large tree root coming up through a footpath. These hazards, however minor they may seem, actually contribute to a high number of incidents at CQUniversity. We can all do something about these hazards and reduce the potential for staff and students being injured by them.

1. If you identify a hazard, is there something you can immediately do to make the area safe? Such as a spill of detergent in a lunchroom, can you clean it up to eliminate the exposure to the next person or remove the broken chair to the store room and attach a warning sign?
2. If you cannot immediately fix the issue you need to report it. Reporting is simple, you can report a hazard via the Hazard Portal.
3. Once you report your hazard, we will ensure it gets to the right area to be fixed as quickly as possible, and once it is fixed, we will notify you and close out your item.

By removing hazards we will create a safer University, reducing incidents and injuries for staff, students and visitors to campus.

An Incident is an unplanned event related to a person resulting in or potential for injury/illness or other loss.

Events that are considered incidents include:

• Work-related injury/illness – any physical or mental injury and, also includes:
  • Industrial deafness
  • A disease contracted by a worker during the workers’ employment (whether at, or away from, the place of employment)
  • A reoccurrence, aggravation, acceleration, exacerbation or deterioration of any pre-existing injury or disease
• Property damage
• Near miss
  • An event not causing harm but has the potential to cause injury or illness
  • E.g. pedestrian/vehicle interaction, chemical spills, falling objects
• Theft
• Security Incident
  • E.g. Intruders, theft, threats, unlocked facilities

Report an Incident

If you require an Ambulance or First Aid press 'First Aid' on the SafeZone app on your mobile device or you can call Security on 1331 from any CQUni phone. If you are off campus ring 000 and then report the incident via the Incident Portal as soon as practicable. All incidents that are reported are investigated by the Safety and Wellbeing team.

Federal, State and Territory Workplace Health and Safety Legislation also requires notifiable incidents to be reported to regulators, with incident sites preserved pending further direction from the regulator.

If you have any questions, please contact the Safety and Wellbeing team by emailing safety-wellbeing@cqu.edu.au.

A confidential incident allows a person to report an incident in confidence.

Events that are considered confidential incidents include:

• Harassment / Bullying / Assault
• Other Misconduct
• Serious Misconduct
• Sexual Violence (sexual harassment or sexual assault)
• Student Critical Incident (death, attempt  suicide, serious injury, significant mental health issues)
• Student Critical Incident (missing student)
• Student in Distress (self-harm, domestic violence, mental health concerns, panic attack)

Report a Confidential Incident