13.2 Incident Reporting and Recording
Purpose
To define requirements for the notification, coordination, reporting and recording of operational incidents.
Overview
Accurate and timely incident reporting supports operational coordination, situational awareness, member and public safety, and the collection of reliable lifesaving data.
SLS services must:
- Notify the State Operations Centre (SOC) of incidents where operational logging, coordination, escalation or support is required.
- Use the Operations App to record incidents.
- Follow the direction of the SOC regarding how incidents should be recorded to ensure accurate statistics.
- Make best efforts to avoid duplicate incident records.
Where an SLS service assists another SLS service, the incident should only be recorded once unless otherwise directed by the SOC.
The SOC maintains oversight of operational incident records and coordination activities.
The Operations App is the system used to complete operational incident records. Requirements relating to the Operations App are detailed in SOP 12.6 – Operations App.
Procedure
Incident Notification
Surf clubs and services must notify the SOC by radio or phone when an incident occurs and operational logging, coordination, escalation or support is required.
The SOC will determine whether an incident record is required and provide direction regarding how the incident should be recorded.
The SOC does not need to be notified of minor injuries to members of the public unless operational support, escalation or incident logging is required.
All injuries involving SLS personnel must be reported to the SOC in accordance with SOP 1.7 – Member Injury Reporting.
Incident Creation
The SOC will create an incident in the incident management system and add relevant details during the incident.
At the conclusion of the incident, the SOC will notify the patrol or service that the incident has been closed within the incident management system. This will make the incident available to the patrol or service in the Operations App for completion.
Incident Recording
The patrol or service must open the incident in the Operations App by navigating to:
Operations App > Menu > Incidents
Relevant operational and patient information must be added as required.
Incident information should be completed as soon as reasonably practicable following the incident.
Requirements relating to the operation of the Operations App are detailed in SOP 12.6 – Operations App.
Member Injuries
Where an incident involves an injury to SLS personnel, the additional notification, information and WHS reporting requirements in SOP 1.7 – Member Injury Reporting apply.
Member injury reporting requirements apply regardless of whether the injury would otherwise be considered a minor incident.
Critical Incidents
Where an incident meets the requirements of a critical incident, SOP 15.1 – Critical Incidents also applies.
Authorised personnel may reopen the incident in the Operations App to add follow-up information.
Significant incident updates must be communicated to the SOC by phone.
Duplicate Records
SLS services must make best efforts to avoid duplicate incident records.
Where multiple SLS services are involved in the same incident, the SOC will provide direction regarding which service should complete or update the incident record.
Useful Links
References