Incident/Injury Reporting

Some examples of EHS incidents are listed below. These are not meant to be all encompassing, but rather to provide an idea of the types of incidents that we can provide assistance with.

1. Near Misses: Near misses are unexpected events that almost resulted, or could result in injury or illness. It is important to report near misses so that these events can be investigated and actual injuries and illness to our campus community can be prevented.

• • Slip, trip, and fall hazards that did not result in an injury
  • Equipment malfunctions
  • Improper protection provided by, or misuse of personal protective equipment

2. Injuries

• • Slips, trips, falls
  • Fractured or broken bones
  • Bruises and scratches

3. Illnesses related to working environment

• • Signs and symptoms of exposure related to a chemical, biological, or radiological hazard in the working environment

Prompt reporting of incidents and near misses helps us to protect the campus community and prevent further incidents by implementing solutions. Certain incident types are also reportable to the Department of Labor within 8 or 24 hours after occurrence.

Incident reports are part of a comprehensive learning and continuous improvement initiative across campus. We are working with campus units and safety liaisons to conduct root cause analyses of all incidents submitted through the incident reporting system. As part of this effort, general information submitted on incident reports will be shared with campus leadership, supervisors, and safety liaisons to create a safer campus community. When we share information across departments, we are able to mitigate similar concerns and hazards that impact the campus as a whole.

The root cause analysis process helps to identify the cause of an incident and helps to inform effective controls that can be implemented to prevent further incidents of similar types across departments and units on campus.

The EHS Department tracks incident trends to understand the most common types of incidents and the causes of incidents at Kansas State University. We disseminate this information to colleges and departments to aid in their safety initiatives and goals. Our mission is to provide safe and healthy working, learning, and teaching environments to the Wildcat Family. Through tracking incidents and controls implemented, we are able to work toward incident rate reduction on campus. After controls are implemented, we evaluate their effectiveness and adapt as necessary to keep our community safe.

As part of the EHS incident reporting process, Human Resources will receive a copy of the incident report. They will submit any necessary information to the worker’s compensation insurance company, and will contact you to request additional information, if necessary.

Information related to workers compensation on the HR website.

Kansas State University workers compensation policy does cover injuries or illness to the following groups of individuals:

• Employees
• Student employees injured during work activities

Kansas State University workers compensation policy does not cover injuries or illnesses to the following groups of individuals:

• Contractors
• Students
• Visitors
• Volunteers