Incident Reporting

Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) tracks and investigates work-related incidents to help prevent injuries and to maintain safe and healthy workplaces. Injury reporting is required by federal, state, and funding agencies to help the University meet its compliance responsibilities.

Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses

Work-related incidents that are defined as “recordable” by the federal Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) are added to the University's Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses in accordance with Washington State Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) requirements.

An injury or illness is considered recordable if it results in medical treatment beyond first aid, including loss of consciousness, significant injury or illness as diagnosed by health care provider, restricted work or job transfer, days away from work, or death.

View the Incidence Rate Graph showing the annual incidence rates of recordable work-related injuries and illnesses at the University.

Download the OSHA 300A Summary for your work location

The recordable work-related injuries and illnesses for University of Washington locations are summarized below. The previous year’s OSHA 300A Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses is required to be posted every year from February 1 to April 30 in each worksite on safety bulletin boards for all University personnel to review.

Report an incident

If an incident occurs, follow the EH&S exposure response procedures if potentially exposed to hazardous materials.

Follow the steps below to report an exposure, fire, property damage, injury or near-miss event.

STEP 1

Complete any immediate first aid/medical care measures. 

STEP 2

Report the incident to your supervisor.

STEP 3

Submit an incident report to EH&S within 24 hours.*

Incidents that require immediate notification

*Notify EH&S immediately (after first aid/medical care) if the incident involves any of the following: 

  • In-patient hospitalization, amputation, loss of an eye, or fatality
  • Recombinant/synthetic DNA/RNA exposure or spill
  • Radioactive material spill, exposure, accidental exposure from a radiation producing device or laser

During EH&S business hours (8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday to Friday) call (206) 543-7262.

Outside of EH&S business hours, call the UW Police Department at (206) 685-8973 to reach EH&S on-call staff.

EH&S is required to report any employee in-patient hospitalization or fatality to Washington State Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) within eight hours of the incident. Do not move any equipment involved in the incident until EH&S receives clearance from L&I.

All other types of incidents involving UW personnel must be reported via the Online Accident Reporting System (OARS) within 24 hours of the incident.

Reporting instructions

UW personnel are required to submit an incident report for any work-related event that results in an injury, illness, exposure, fire, property damage, or near-miss event. UW personnel have the option to submit an incident report for anyone who does not have a UW NetID and was injured in UW facilities or grounds.

Incidents may occur at University owned and operated locations, including field sites and any off-campus location where University business or academic activities are occurring.

Types of events to report

  1. Exposure events are defined as contact with a chemical, biological, or radiological material through absorption (skin or eye), ingestion, inhalation, or injection. Workplace illnesses resulting from exposures to communicable diseases, regulated building materials, noise, and heat are also exposure-related events. Follow the EH&S exposure response procedures if potentially exposed to hazardous materials.
  2. Fire events are defined as anything that includes flames and/or smoke, even if the fire goes out by itself.
  3. Property damage-related events are defined as physical harm to UW property that could lead to repair or maintenance costs.
  4. Near-miss events identify a potentially unsafe condition where no injury, exposure or property damage occurred.
    1. For example, if a worker tripped while walking, but was not injured, this would be considered a near-miss event.
    2. Near-misses are valuable opportunities to correct potential hazards, which could result in a serious injury.
  5. Injury events are defined as any harm to a person, including minor harm, that may or may not require first aid (e.g., use of medication, band-aids, ice packs, etc.). Some injuries additionally require an immediate notification* to EH&S for reporting purposes.

Anyone with a UW NetID can report an incident using the University’s Online Accident Reporting System (OARS).

UW Medicine personnel and individuals working in UW Medicine facilities should use UW Medicine’s PSN system to report workplace incidents.

Assistance

For assistance with completing an incident report, contact EH&S at injury@uw.edu.

If you will be working at a location without internet access, download and save or print the Incident Report Form (PDF) prior to leaving internet service. Complete the PDF after an incident occurs and type the information into the UW’s Online Accident Reporting System when you return to internet service.

Responsibilities

Frequently asked questions

Contact

Environmental Health & Safety Contact

(206) 543-7262
Reference Files 
Exposure Response Poster
95.49KB (.pdf)
Spill Response Poster
126.63KB (.pdf)
Incident Reporting Poster
558.25KB (.pdf)