A workplace accident starts two duties at once. The employee must speak up, and the employer must report. NSITF's FAQ sets out both.
Step one: the employee tells the employer
The employee, or a dependant if the employee cannot, tells the employer as soon as reasonably possible. That is NSITF's wording. It does not give a fixed number for this first step.
Make it easy to do. Tell staff who to tell. A supervisor who hears about an injury on site should pass it to HR or the owner the same day.
Step two: the employer reports to NSITF
Once told, the employer must report to the nearest NSITF office within 7 days. Note the wording. It is a report to the fund, not only an internal note.
Put it in writing. A written report gives you a date to point to if anyone asks later.
Find out now where the nearest NSITF office is, and ask how it takes reports. Keep those details with your first-aid notes.
What to put in your written record
This list is good practice, not an NSITF form. Ask the office what else it needs.
- Who was hurt, and what their role is.
- The date, time and place.
- What happened, in plain words.
- When and how the employer was told.
- Any witnesses.
- If the person went to hospital, which hospital and when.
- The date the report went to NSITF.
Keep a copy with your payroll records, where you can find it fast.
Why reporting matters
The scheme is no-fault. It pays for work-related injury, disease, disability or death, and employers fund it through contributions. In a no-fault scheme, who was to blame is not the question. Ask NSITF what a report sets in motion.
An employer that is unregistered, or behind on contributions, has a second problem to fix. See NSITF late payment penalty and fines for what NSITF's FAQ lists.
Who owns the task inside your business
The deadline is short. It helps to name one person who owns it. Give that person the details of the nearest NSITF office, and a template for the written record.
Do not leave it to whoever happens to hear about the accident. A deadline nobody owns is a deadline that gets missed.
Common mistakes
- Waiting to see whether the injury turns out serious before telling anyone.
- Reporting to head office informally, but not to the nearest NSITF office.
- Keeping no written record.
- Treating the report as an admission of fault.
- Letting the deadline pass because nobody owned the task.
- Not knowing where the nearest NSITF office is until the day you need it.
For the wider scheme, see the Employees' Compensation Act basics. The tender compliance hub covers the rest of the series, and the NSITF compliance certificate guide explains the certificate tenders ask for.