Report an incident or a safety observation

Employee AZ gives you two ways to tell your employer about safety at work. Use Report an incident when someone was hurt, nearly was, or became ill because of their work. Use Report an observation for anything else you notice: a hazard, an unsafe condition or act, an idea, or something done well. Both are in the menu under Health & Safety › Safety, and both can be sent without your name.

Incident or observation?

• Report an incident is for an Accident or injury, a Near miss or an Illness caused by work. It asks what happened, who was hurt and who saw it, and gives you a reference. Colleagues you pick from the list as witnesses are asked for their account, unless you send the report anonymously.
• Report an observation is a shorter form for something you noticed before anyone was hurt. A near miss is not offered there: the form links to Report a near miss instead, so that it is looked into as an incident.

Report an incident

1. In the menu, under Health & Safety, select Safety. Under the emergency contacts, select Report an incident. The same button is at the top of Incidents and actions.

2. Under What happened?, choose Accident or injury, Near miss or Illness caused by work. Day it happened starts at today and cannot be a later day; Time, if you know it is optional. Choose Where were you?, and add the Exact place if it helps, for example the room or the machine.

3. Fill in In a few words (up to 200 characters) and Tell us what happened (up to 4,000 characters): what you were doing, what happened and what caused it, as far as you know. What was done straight away? is optional, for example first aid given or a machine switched off.

4. Under Who was hurt or became ill?, choose Me, A colleague (then pick them in Which colleague?) or Someone else, such as a visitor or a contractor (then type Their name). Choose How serious is it?: Minor: first aid at most, Needed a doctor or a clinic, Had to stop work or take time off or Taken to hospital. What injury or symptoms? is optional: write only what you know.

   For a near miss this step says For a near miss nobody was hurt, so there is nothing to fill in here. Nothing you typed there before is kept.

5. Under Who saw it?, tick the people in Colleagues who saw it. With a long list, type in Find a colleague to narrow it. Write anyone who is not in the list in Anyone else who saw it, one name per line. Leave the step empty if nobody saw it. You can name up to 10 people.

6. Under Your name on the report, leave Send this report anonymously unticked to send the report in your name. Read what an anonymous report means before you tick it.

7. Select Send report. To leave without sending anything, select Cancel.

Only colleagues who still work for your organisation are in the lists. If the list cannot be read, the form says Your colleagues' names could not be loaded right now. To name a colleague, choose Someone else and write their name. A name you type is kept in the report, but it is not linked to that person's account.

If the form comes back

Your browser does not send the form while the kind, the day, the short line or the story is empty, or while the day is after today: it points to that answer instead. Everything is checked again when the form is sent. If an answer is missing or does not fit, nothing is sent. The form comes back as you filled it in, with Some answers need another look. They are marked below. at the top and a message under each answer to check:

Send it anonymously

Under Send this report anonymously, the form explains: An anonymous report does not store your name. It will not appear in your list, nobody can ask you about it, and it cannot name you as the person hurt. You will still get a reference to quote.

In practice:

• Your report is saved in the same way, without your name.
• The reference is shown only once, on the page you see after sending, and nowhere else afterwards. Write it down before you leave that page.
• The report is not under My reports, so you cannot follow it in Employee AZ. To ask about it, quote the reference to your safety team.
• The people you name are written into the report only. The report does not appear on their own Incidents and actions page, and they are not asked for a statement there.
• If you were the person hurt, send the report in your name instead: an anonymous report cannot say so.

After you send

You land on Incidents and actions, under My reports, with Your report has been sent at the top and your Reference, for example RPT-2026-4F2A91C0. Quote it whenever you ask about the report. For a report in your name, See your report opens it. For an anonymous one, the receipt says It was sent without your name. It is not linked to you, so it will not appear in your list: keep the reference if you want to ask about it.

• Do not count on Safety AZ to alert anyone. If the receipt adds the following line, nobody was emailed about your report: Your report is saved and your safety team can see it, but we could not email them about it. If someone is hurt, tell your manager now.
• If a person you named could not be added to the report, the receipt names them. Tell your safety team who they are and quote the reference.
• You cannot change a report once it is sent. To add or correct something, tell your safety team and quote the reference.

Follow the reports you sent in your name

1. On Safety, select Incidents and actions, then the My reports tab. Each report shows its kind, the day it happened, its reference and where it stands.

2. Select the title, or Open, to read the report. It shows Summary, What happened and, when you named anyone, People you named.

Colleagues you pick from the list as hurt or as witnesses can open your report too. They see your name, what happened and their own part, but not who else you named. With no reports yet, the tab says You have not reported an incident yet. When your reports cannot be read, it says This could not be loaded right now. Try again in a few minutes: your reports are not lost.

Give a witness statement

When a colleague sends a report in their name and picks you from the list as someone who saw it, the incident appears under Involving me with Your statement is asked for, and My tasks on your Home page lists it. See Your Home page and readiness score.

1. Open Incidents and actions and select the Involving me tab. Incidents waiting for your statement are listed first.

2. Select Write your statement. Read Summary and What happened, then go to Your part.

3. In What did you see or hear?, write your account, up to 4,000 characters. Your statement goes to your safety team. Write only what you saw or heard yourself.

4. Select Send statement. The page confirms Thank you. Your statement has been sent to your safety team.

• You give one statement, and it cannot be changed once sent. The incident then shows it with the day you sent it.
• An empty statement is refused with Write what you saw before sending your statement. One over 4,000 characters is refused with Your statement can be at most 4,000 characters. Your text stays in the box.
• Once the incident is closed, the form is gone and the page says The incident is closed, so statements are no longer taken.
• If a colleague named you as the person hurt or ill, the incident is also under Involving me. Your part then shows how serious it was and the injury or symptoms reported, under You were named as the person hurt. or You were named as the person who became ill. Nothing is asked of you there.

Finish the actions assigned to you

After an incident, your safety team may ask you to do something about it, such as fitting a guard or clearing a walkway. The Assigned to me tab of Incidents and actions lists it under To do, with where it comes from, for example Incident follow-up, and its due date. Due soon means due within 7 days, Overdue that the date has passed. With nothing assigned, the tab says Nothing is assigned to you.

1. When you begin the work, you can select Start. The page confirms Marked as started. This step is optional.

2. When the work is done, select Mark as done.

3. In What did you do?, describe what you did. An incident follow-up needs it: the dialog is not sent while the box is empty. When the action needs a check, the dialog adds It is checked before it is closed, and whoever checks it reads this.

4. Select Mark as done in the dialog.

An action that needs a check moves to Waiting for a check and the page says Marked as done. It is now waiting for a check. It moves to Done when your safety team has checked it. One that needs no check goes straight to Done with Marked as done. Thank you. The last 20 finished actions stay listed under Done. When someone changed the action while your page was open, nothing is saved and the page says This action has already moved on since the page was opened. Nothing was changed. Read where it stands now.

Report an observation

1. On Safety, select Report an observation at the top of the page. The dialog Report a safety observation opens.

2. In What kind of observation?, choose Unsafe condition, Unsafe act, Hazard, Improvement idea, Something done well or Other.

3. Write What did you observe? in one short sentence. Besides the kind, it is the only answer you must give. Details, Where?, How serious does it look? and Did you do anything about it on the spot? are optional.

4. To send it without your name, tick Report anonymously: If ticked, your name will not be attached to this report. An anonymous observation is not listed under My observations, so you cannot follow it.

5. Select Send report. The page opens My observations and confirms Thank you — your observation has been reported. If it says Could not submit the observation. Please try again. nothing was saved: send it again.

Choosing a high seriousness does not make the report an alarm. If the danger is immediate, warn the people around you and tell your manager straight away.

Follow your observations

The My observations tab on Safety lists the observations you sent in your name, newest first, each with its kind, the day you reported it and where it stands:

If you were hurt or nearly hurt, report it as an incident instead; see Report an incident. For work under a permit, see Your steps on a work permit.