For dangerous goods emergencies or accidents requiring the attendance of emergency services, telephone 000.
Importance of reporting
Reporting dangerous goods incidents is important as it assists in the prevention of incidents through raising awareness of accident trends and publicising the learnings from investigations. Reporting can also help prevent the escalation of unsafe conditions if hazards and risks involved in the incident are recognised and addressed.
What should be reported?
Any dangerous goods incident where people, property or the environment are harmed must be reported.
An incident involving dangerous goods must also be reported if:
- but for intervening events, it could have resulted in unreasonable (i.e. serious) harm to people, environment or property (i.e. near miss or hit)
- it results in a dangerous situation
- it is specified in the dangerous goods safety regulations.
Note: The Dangerous Goods Safety (Security Sensitive Ammonium Nitrate) Regulations 2007 contain specific reporting requirements for the loss of a security sensitive ammonium nitrate. Refer to regulations 14, 23, 26 and 31 for examples of these situations.
Section 9 of the Dangerous Goods Safety Act 2004 states that any person who, to any extent, has the control or management of the dangerous goods involved in an incident must, as soon as reasonably practicable, report the incident to a Dangerous Goods Officer.
How to report a dangerous goods or explosives incident
Step one: Report incidents as soon as practicable to a Dangerous Goods Officer
Phone (during business hours): (08) 6251 2300
WorkSafe incident line (after hours): 1800 678 198
Email: dgsb@demirs.wa.gov.au
Step two: Lodge a dangerous goods incident report with the department within 21 days
Complete the dangerous goods incident report form and lodged with Dangerous Goods Safety within 21 days of a reportable situation unless otherwise agreed with a Dangerous Goods Officer. You can lodge this form via email or post.
Dangerous goods incident report: Form
Reporting requirements
All parties involved with dangerous goods need to understand their reporting duties for dangerous goods incidents.
These duties include reporting timeframes, the requirements for a written report (a form that details what is to be reported) and what incidents must be reported.
Reporting and investigating incidents and other situations involving dangerous goods: Guide
This guide is intended to assist all parties involved with dangerous goods to understand their reporting duties for dangerous goods incidents.
Reporting incidents under other legislation
Sometimes incidents may need to be reported to multiple inspectorates under multiple legislations. It is important to remember that reporting incidents to the dangerous goods branch will not satisfy reporting requirements under other legislation, such as the Work Health and Safety Act 2020 or the Environmental Protection Act 1986.
See below for further information about these reporting requirements.
- Report a workplace incident to WorkSafe
- Duty to notify of waste discharge to the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation
Learning from incidents
The department publishes significant incident reports and safety bulletins on reported incidents and accidents. These safety alerts allow information to be communicated to industry and the public with the hope that similar incidents can be prevented.
Significant incidents reports cover individual incidents or accidents. Safety bulletins are produced to highlight safety concerns where there has been a cluster or trend of similar incidents, whether in Western Australia or worldwide.
The department also releases dangerous goods safety alerts, so that the learnings can be shared. Detailed reports are available for the following events: