16. Accident Information
Notification and Data Collection
Current System
229. The Electricity and Gas Acts require that accidents which cause either serious injury or property damage be notified to the Secretary of Commerce. There is a similar requirement under the HSE Act for serious injury accidents to employees within the place of work to be notified to OSH, although there is no requirement to notify in the case of property damage that poses no risk of injury.
230. For workplace accidents, the legislation requires companies to complete two separate forms with substantially similar information and dispatch them to the two different government agencies. Results from investigations are also held separately by the two agencies.
231. Data on fires collected by the New Zealand Fire Service includes fires believed to be caused by electrical or gas faults, but the statistical categories used differ from those used by the other agencies. Accidents to people or property through fires are not usually included in the electrical or gas accident and incident databases held by Commerce.
232. The ACC collects data based on all claims for subsidised medical treatment. This is categorised by industry group. The categories used are based on the information provided by the patient or medical provider filling in the form and are different again from the categories used by the other agencies involved in collecting data.
233. The Office of the Chief Gas Engineer maintains a database which records accidents and incidents including non-reportable matters such as minor gas escapes. This is used to identify safety problems. Information from this database is not currently published, but there are plans to publish summaries in future.
234. The Office of the Chief Electrical Engineer maintains a database and publishes an annual summary of reported accidents on the Commerce web page.
235. Information for both electrical and gas accidents and incidents is incomplete as minor ones and those involving the public are often not reported. Attempts have been made to improve the collection of information and some companies are now providing all information on accidents involving third party damage.
236. OSH collects information on workplace accidents and analyses it to determine trends and identify safety problems for the purpose of planning and targeting its safety promotion and enforcement activities. The results of OSH's analyses are not usually published but may be included in more general publication material.
Proposed Improvements
237. Each agency needs data for different purposes and each agency has a different scope. For instance, OSH has no interest in data on accidents that occur outside the place of work. However, the Government through the Secretary of Commerce, has a responsibility for monitoring the overall level of safety of the use of electricity and gas. This cannot be done effectively without comprehensive data collected on a consistent basis over time.
238. The review team considers that all agencies involved in collecting data relating to the use of electricity and gas need to work together to agree on the data that the different agencies need. One form should then be developed so that businesses do not have to report twice on the same accident.
239. Once data collection criteria are agreed, a lead agency, statutory body, or private organisation would collect and analyse all the data. This organisation could also be given responsibility for publishing data for public information and monitoring purposes. The application of information technology would enable this process to be achieved simply and efficiently and also support an early release of basic information to the industry.
Accident Investigation
240. It is proposed that OSH has the primary responsibility for investigating accidents in the workplace. However, OSH does not currently have specialist expertise in electricity or gas safety. It is likely that another government agency will need to maintain some specialist expertise in order to carry out functions related to the public safety of gas and electricity use. It would be logical for OSH to obtain the specialist expertise it requires from that agency rather than duplicate it.
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