The Dangerous Goods Safety Act 2004 (the Act) and subsidiary regulations require certain situations to be reported or notified to the Chief Officer or a Dangerous Goods Officer (DGO) at the Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (the department). This guide consolidates these requirements.
Reportable situations prescribed
The following situations at dangerous goods sites, or involving dangerous goods in a pipeline, must be reported to the department if they caused, or could have caused (if not for intervening events):
- death, or unreasonable bodily injury or harm to the health of an individual
- significant and unreasonable damage or harm to property or the environment
- an unexpected spill, leak or other emission of dangerous goods
- a fire, explosion or other release of energy.
The following situations arising in the course of storing, handling or transporting dangerous goods must also be reported to the department:
- any dangerous goods incident involving explosives
- any malfunction of an explosive not involving a misfire
- any theft, attempted theft, or any unexplained loss of an explosive.
The above situations are ‘reportable situations prescribed’ under the Act, Dangerous Goods Safety (Storage and Handling of Non-explosives) Regulations 2007, and Dangerous Goods Safety (Explosives) Regulations 2007.
Other reportable situations
There are additional situations that are not 'reportable situations prescribed' under the dangerous goods safety legislation, but must be reported or notified to the department:
- dangerous situations resulting from incidents during the transportation of dangerous goods
- unlawful use, or attempted unlawful use of a vehicle being used to transport security sensitive ammonium nitrate (SSAN)
- theft, attempted theft, or unexplained loss of any amount of SSAN.
The above situations must be reported or notified under the Dangerous Goods Safety (Explosives) Regulations 2007, the Dangerous Goods Safety (Road and Rail Transport of Non-explosives) Regulations 2007, and the Dangerous Goods Safety (SSAN) Regulations 2007.
For the purpose of this guide, these situations are also referred to as ‘reportable situations’.