Incident reporting

Reportable incidents - Accidents and Dangerous Occurrences

Operators of facilities and diving supervisors have a duty to notify and report accidents and dangerous occurrences which occur at, or near, facilities to NOPSEMA under the OPGGS Act and Safety Regulations. Accident is an occurrence at or near a facility, as defined in Clause 82 Schedule 3 of the OPGGS Act. If there is any doubt as to whether an injury is classified as serious, a notification should be made. Dangerous occurrence is an occurrence at a facility as defined in the table provided at Regulation 2.41 of the Safety Regulations. 

Written report

In addition to verbal notification, duty holders must provide NOPSEMA with a written report of the reportable incident. The written report is in two parts, and this section refers to the safety-related information only (please refer to the subsequent subsection for environmental and well integrity-related information, which utilise the same form).

A 3-day report (referred to as initial report) must be submitted by the duty holder no later than three days after the first occurrence of the reportable incident. 

If the duty holder has been unable to identify all of the material facts and circumstances, and remedial actions to be taken within the three days, the (initial) report must nevertheless be submitted with all of the information available at the time. Subsequently, if the duty holder requires additional time to investigate to submit all information, this time must be agreed with NOPSEMA.

A 30-day report (referred to as final report) is the completed report which includes the root cause of an accident or dangerous occurrence. The report, unless otherwise agreed by NOPSEMA, must be given as soon as practicable, but not later than 30 days, after the first occurrence of the accident or dangerous occurrence.

Please submit written reportable incident reports using our Secure File Transfer service or by email to submissions@nopsema.gov.au

Operators must notify NOPSEMA as soon as practicable after becoming aware of an alleged sexual harassment, bullying or harassment incident, without waiting for an internal investigation to be completed. The initial notification should provide a de-identified summary of the incident and should be submitted to NOPSEMA as soon as practicable after the operator becomes aware of the incident. 

A written report must be submitted within 30 days of the notification, unless NOPSEMA approves a longer timeframe. 

Reports must be submitted using NOPSEMA's sexual harassment, bullying and harassment reporting form. If there is any uncertainty about whether an incident falls within these categories, operators are encouraged to notify NOPSEMA. 

Titleholders have a legal obligation under the Offshore Petroleum Greenhouse Gas Storage (Resource Management & Administration) Regulations 2025 (RMA Regulations) to give notice to NOPSEMA of the occurrence or subsequent discovery of reportable incidents that relate to the control of a well. 

Reportable incidents

As defined in Section 100 of the RMA Regulations, reportable incidents in relation to a well are:

a. a loss of integrity of the well, including a well kick, resulting in a release of more than:

  i. 1 kilogram of gas; or

  ii. 80 litres of liquid;

b. a failure of hydrostatic pressure as a primary barrier, leading to:

  i. a build-up of pressure of a positive flow check; and

  ii. the operation of a blow-out prevention or diversion system;

c. damage to, or failure of, well-related equipment that has led or could lead to a loss of integrity of the well;

d. damage to, or failure of, well-related equipment that is used to monitor or verify the integrity of the well;

e. any other unplanned occurrence that requires the titleholder to implement measures or arrangements to regain control of the well. 

Written report

A written report must be given not later than three days after the first occurrence (or after the titleholder becomes aware) of the reportable incident. 

If at the time of submission of the initial written report to NOPSEMA the reportable incident has not been resolved, a further written report must be submitted every 30 days from the date of issue of the initial report, until the incident has been resolved. 

For information on report content requirements and/or further guidance on well integrity incidents, refer to the Notification, reporting and recording requirements for incidents guidance note. 

Duty holders have a legal obligation under the Offshore Petroleum Greenhouse Gas Storage (Environment) Regulations 2023 (Environment Regulations) to report incidents to NOPSEMA within a specified period of time, depending on the impact or potential impact to the environment.

Reportable incidents

A reportable environmental incident means an incident relating to the activity that has caused or has the potential to cause moderate to significant environmental damage. These are defined in the titleholder’s environment plan.

The titleholder is required to provide an oral notification to NOPSEMA as soon as practicable and no later than two hours after a reportable environmental incident occurring.

Written report

The titleholder must provide a written notification as soon as practicable, and in any case, not later than three days after the first occurrence of the reportable incident, or another period specified by NOPSEMA.

NOPSEMA has a template form for reporting, Report of an accident, dangerous occurrence, well integrity or environmental incident, which can be found in Related Documents below. 

A written record of the notification is also required to be submitted to NOPSEMA as soon as practicable after the oral notification of the incident and must contain all information specified under the Environment Regulations.  

The titleholder must also provide a copy of the report, within seven days of giving the written report to NOPSEMA, to NOPTA (via email to resources@nopta.gov.au) and the Department of the responsible State or Territory Minister.

NOPSEMA may, by written request, require the titleholder to submit additional written reports, after the initial written report is received.

Please submit written reportable incident reports using our Secure File Transfer service or by email to submissions@nopsema.gov.au.

Recordable incidents

A recordable environmental incident means a breach of an environmental performance outcome or standard in the environment plan that applies to the activity and is not a reportable incident.

A written report of all recordable incidents must be provided to NOPSEMA as soon as practicable after the end of the calendar month, and in any case, not later than 15 days after the end of the calendar month. The written report must contain all information specified under the Environment Regulations.

If no recordable incidents have occurred, a 'nil incident' report should be submitted to NOPSEMA. Please submit monthly recordable incident reports using our Secure File Transfer service or by email to submissions@nopsema.gov.au.

For further information, see Activity notification and performance reporting page.

Monthly incident and injury reporting

See Activity notification and performance reporting page.

Reporting an alleged breach of a safety zone

NOPSEMA administers petroleum and greenhouse gas safety zones under Chapter 6 of the OPGGS Act. Safety zones are specified areas surrounding petroleum and greenhouse gas wells, structures or equipment which vessels or classes of vessel are prohibited from entering or being present in. Unauthorised entry or presence in a safety zone is an offence with a maximum penalty of 12.5 years' imprisonment. See also Safety zones and the area to be avoided (ATBA).

A range of agencies have a role in enforcing petroleum safety zones (PSZs). NOPSEMA provides a reporting template (see Report of an alleged safety zone infringement form) to enable titleholders and facility operators to capture and pass on relevant information to authorised persons, e.g. Australian Federal Police, State or Territory Police, Defence Force or Border Force. This information may assist authorised persons in exercising their powers. A completed reporting form should be sent to the appropriate authorised persons and can be cc'd to submissions@nopsema.gov.au

HSR request for review of Provisional Improvement Notice (PIN) to NOPSEMA

Refer to the Health and Safety Representatives page for further information. 

Notification of the start and end of an activity (Regulation 29)

Regulation 29 of the Environment Regulations requires that:

• a titleholder must notify NOPSEMA that an activity is to commence at least 10 days before the activity commences; and

• a titleholder must notify NOPSEMA that an activity is completed within 10 days after the completion.

Notification of the end of operation of an environment plan (Regulation 25A)

Regulation 25A of the Environment Regulations provides that the operation of an environment plan ends when the titleholder notifies NOPSEMA that:

• the activity or activities to which the plan relates have ended; and

• all of the obligations under the environment plan have been completed; and

• NOPSEMA accepts the notification.

Titleholders may provide NOPSEMA with written notification of commencement and completion dates and/or the end of operation of an environment plan directly by email, letter, or by using the forms available under 'Quick Links'.

Please submit written notifications using our SecureFile Transfer service or by email to submissions@nopsema.gov.au

See Activity notification and periodic reporting page. 

NOPSEMA administers petroleum and greenhouse gas safety zones under Chapter 6 of the OPGGS Act. Safety zones are specified areas surrounding petroleum or greenhouse gas wells, structures or equipment which vessels or classes of vessel are prohibited from entering or being present in. 

Unauthorised entry or presence in a safety zone is an offence with a maximum penalty of 12.5 years imprisonment. See also Safety zones and the area to be avoided (ATBA).

A range of agencies have a role in enforcing petroleum safety zones (PSZs). NOPSEMA provides a reporting template (see Report of an alleged safety zone infringement form) to enable titleholders and facility operators to capture and pass on relevant information to authorised persons, such as the Australian Federal Police, state and territory police, the Australian Defence Force and the Australian Border Force. This information may assist authorised persons in exercising their powers.

A completed reporting form should be sent to the appropriate authorised persons and can be cc'd to submissions@nopsema.gov.au

Refer to the Health and Safety Representatives page for further information.