How to Report an Incident at a WA Mine

Under the WHS Act 2020 (WA) and WHS (Mines) Regulations 2022, mine operators must report notifiable incidents to the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DMPE). CalibrAIte automates this process with AI-powered classification and form generation, reducing reporting time from over an hour to under 3 minutes.

This guide covers the legal requirements, responsible parties, timeframes, required forms, and how AI can streamline the process.

What incidents must be reported in WA?

The WHS Act 2020 (WA) defines three categories of notifiable incidents under sections 35-37:

1. Death of a person (s.35)

Any death that results from a work activity at a mine site must be immediately reported to the regulator.

2. Serious injury or illness (s.36)

This includes:

• Immediate treatment as an in-patient in a hospital
• Immediate treatment for amputation, serious head or eye injury, serious burn, spinal injury, or loss of bodily function
• Medical treatment within 48 hours of exposure to a substance
• Any infection to which the carrying out of work is a significant contributing factor

3. Dangerous incident (s.37)

A dangerous incident exposes a person to a serious risk, even if no injury occurs. Examples include:

• Uncontrolled escape, spillage, or leakage of a substance
• Uncontrolled implosion, explosion, or fire
• Uncontrolled escape of gas or steam
• Electric shock
• Fall or release from height of any plant, substance, or thing
• Collapse or partial collapse of a structure
• Inrush of water, mud, or gas in a mine
• Interruption of the main ventilation system in a mine

The WHS (Mines) Regulations 2022 add further mine-specific reporting requirements for ground instability, failure of principal control measures, and other mining-specific hazards.

Who is responsible for reporting?

The person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) at the mine site is responsible for reporting. In practice, this is typically:

• The mine operator
• The Site Senior Executive (SSE)
• Any PCBU who is aware the incident has occurred

Failure to report a notifiable incident is an offence under s.38 of the WHS Act 2020. Penalties can be significant.

What are the timeframes?

Under s.38 of the WHS Act 2020:

• Immediately — notify the regulator by the fastest possible means (usually phone to DMPE)
• Written report — a written notice must be given within 48 hours if required by the regulator
• Site preservation — the incident site must not be disturbed until an inspector arrives or directs otherwise

What forms are required?

DMPE requires specific forms for different incident types. The exact form depends on the classification of the incident and whether it occurred at a mine or a general workplace.

CalibrAIte automatically determines which forms are required based on the incident classification and pre-fills them with the relevant information. Forms can be exported as PDF for submission.

How does CalibrAIte automate incident reporting?

CalibrAIte transforms the incident reporting process from manual paperwork to AI-assisted workflow:

1. Input — Worker describes the incident in plain text, uploads a photo, or uses voice input on mobile.
2. Classification — AI determines incident type, severity, and hazard category.
3. Regulatory matching — The system matches the incident against WHS Act s.35-38 and WHS Mines Regulations to determine notification requirements.
4. Controls — Immediate actions, engineering controls, administrative controls, PPE, and training requirements are recommended based on regulatory sources.
5. Forms — Required reporting forms are generated and pre-filled. Export to PDF, CSV, or JSON.
6. Notification — Site safety team is automatically notified via email. Escalation rules based on severity.

The entire process takes under 3 minutes from incident description to completed report — compared to 45-90 minutes for manual processes.