Reporting Incidents and Injuries

Report an Incident 

In the event of a medical or other emergency:

Call 911.  After calling 911 call Safety & Security at 902 867 4444 or have someone else call. 

Your responsibilities when you have a health and safety injury or incident:

  • If you are injured, promptly receive first aid.
  • Notify your supervisor immediately.
  • If necessary, obtain medical treatment.

Your supervisor's responsibilities when there has been a health and safety injury or incident:

  • Ensure that the first aid and other medical treatment is provided, including transportation.
  • Promptly investigate the injury or incident to determine the causes.
  • Report incidents to their management immediately.
  • Report incident to OHS/Risk Management using the Report an Incident button above.
  • Take appropriate corrective actions to prevent a recurrence.
  • Report incident to OHS/Risk Management using the Report an Incident button above.
  • Complete initial Incident Investigation Report within 24 hours if incident is an injury or if the potential severity requires an investigation (check with OHS if you're not sure).


Incident Investigation Report  This report is required for all injury incidents and other serious incidents.

    Incident investigations are not about placing blame.  Investigations are conducted to determine the causes of all incidents so that appropriate action can be taken to prevent recurrence. The role of incident investigation in a health and safety program is prevention. Therefore, it is important to investigate not only the incidents that cause loss, but also near misses because of their potential if the circumstances had only been slightly different. 

    The incident investigation process helps StFX look beyond what happened to discover why it happened.  This allows us to identify and correct shortcomings in our OHS system.  The OHS office can assist with incident investigations and may take the lead on some investigations, depending on the nature and severity of the incident.

    Investigation Technique

    • Take charge of the scene and make sure any injured are attended to. Do not disturb the scene except to remove the injured person or protect property against future damage. 
    • Ensure that no further injury or damage occurs. 
    • Determine what happened. 
    • Secure the area with barrier tape to prevent other workers from disturbing the incident scene. 
    • Collect and safeguard any physical evidence. 
    • Obtain other evidence such as – photographs, diagrams, and statements. 
    • Determine what corrective action will prevent recurrence.
    • Report to your manager immediately and online (using button above) as soon as possible. 
    • Complete initial Incident Investigation Report within 24 hours.

    What Should I Report?

    Always report the following incidents:

    • any injury to an employee, including all medical aid, including first aid, and lost time incidents and any incident where a claim is made to the Workers’ Compensation Board;
    • any injury to another member of the StFX Community requiring medical treatment;
    • any incident that is included in the definition of the University’s Violence in the Workplace Prevention Policy;
    • any non-injury (near miss) incident which had the potential of causing an injury to the employee, or another member of the StFX Community, or cause serious property damage.

    Reporting to the Department of Labour

    Section 63 (1) of the OH&S Act requires that injuries and accidents are reported to Nova Scotia Department of Labour, Skills and Immigration, Safety Branch as follows:  

    1. as soon as possible, but in no case later than twenty-four hours, after a fire, flood or accident at the workplace that causes 

    (i) unconsciousness, 

    (ii) a fracture of the skull, spine, pelvis, arm, leg, ankle, wrist or a major part of the hand or foot, 

    (iii) loss or amputation of a leg, arm, hand, foot, finger or toe, 

    (iv) a third degree burn to any part of the body, 

    (v) loss of sight in one or both eyes, 

    (vi) asphyxiation or poisoning, 

    (vii) any injury that requires the admission to hospital, or 

    (viii) any injury that endangers the life, 

    of an employee, unless the injury can be treated by immediate first aid or medical treatment and the person can return to work the following day;  

    2. as soon as possible, but in no case later than twenty-four hours, after 

    • an accidental explosion, 
    • a major structural failure or collapse of a building or other structure, 
    • a major release of a hazardous substance, or 
    • a fall from a work area in circumstances where fall protection is required by the regulations, 

    at the workplace, whether any person is injured or not; and  

    • immediately when a person is killed from any cause, or is injured from any cause in a manner likely to prove fatal, at the workplace.