The first hour: people first, then the scene
- Help the injured person. Provide first aid, call an ambulance if there is any doubt about the severity, and do not move someone with a suspected serious injury unless they are in danger where they are.
- Make the area safe. Cordon off the location so nobody else slips on the same hazard while attention is on the incident.
- Record the scene before it changes. Photograph the floor from several angles, including anything on the surface: water, oil, food, cleaning residue, worn or damaged flooring. Note the weather, the lighting, footwear if relevant, and the exact location. Once the area is cleaned, this evidence is gone.
- Identify witnesses. Collect names and contact details while people are still present.
There is a natural tension here: you must remove the hazard, but you also want to document it first. The answer is order of operations. Cordon first, photograph immediately, then clean.
The first days: reporting and preservation
- Complete your incident report. Record the facts while memories are fresh: what happened, where, when, conditions, witnesses, response. Stick to facts rather than conclusions about fault.
- Check whether the incident is notifiable. Under Australian WHS legislation, certain serious incidents must be notified to the WHS regulator in your state or territory. If a worker or member of the public required hospital treatment, check your obligations promptly, as notification timeframes are short.
- Preserve CCTV. Many systems overwrite footage within days or weeks. Export and retain any recording of the incident and, ideally, the hours before it, which may show how the hazard arose.
- Notify your insurer. Public liability policies typically require prompt notification of incidents that could give rise to a claim. Late notification can complicate cover.
- Retain maintenance and cleaning records. Cleaning logs, contractor schedules and inspection records for the area will matter if a claim is made, whichever way they cut.
The first weeks: find out what the floor is actually like
An incident tells you someone slipped. It does not tell you whether the floor is adequate. That question has an objective answer: wet pendulum testing of the surface in accordance with AS 4663:2013, interpreted against the recommended classifications in HB 198:2014 for that location type.
Testing after an incident serves two purposes:
- Risk management. If the surface genuinely falls short, you want to know now and fix it before anyone else is hurt. If it does not, the incident likely had another cause, such as a temporary spill, and your response can target that instead.
- Evidence. Objective test results, whatever they show, put you in a far better position than guesswork. Knowing where you stand lets you and your insurer respond to any claim on facts.
Test promptly, but test the floor in its normal state, not freshly stripped for the occasion. A credible report records the surface condition at the time of testing. If you are unsure what a report should look like, read our guide on how to read a slip test report.
Rectify, then retest
If testing shows a surface below the guidance for its location, act on it and document the action. Options range from changed cleaning regimes and better matting to anti-slip treatments and resurfacing; the right one depends on the surface and how far short it falls. Our rectification referral pathways exist for exactly this situation.
Once the work is done, retest. A documented before-and-after gives you a closed loop: hazard identified, hazard addressed, improvement verified. That record is the strongest possible demonstration of due diligence.
The following months: stop it happening again
- Review how the hazard arose. A spill that sat for an hour points to inspection frequency, not flooring.
- Look for the same conditions elsewhere on site. An entry that floods in rain rarely floods alone.
- Consider periodic slip testing across your key areas so surface degradation is caught before the next incident, not after it.
- Feed the incident into your risk register and review it at your normal governance cadence.
Need testing after an incident?
We provide post-incident slip testing across Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, with reports written to be understood by insurers, lawyers and boards as well as facility teams.