A decision tree, applied to every event whether or not anyone was hurt, separates actual, potential and precursor serious injury and fatality (SIF) events from the rest of your incident data. The categories are not legal definitions; reporting duties come from legislation. In Ontario, when a person is killed or critically injured, OHSA s. 51(1) requires immediate notice and a written report within 48 hours. In Alberta, OHS Act s. 33(1)–(2) requires a report to a Director as soon as possible for the injuries and incidents it lists. The framework is a simplified adaptation of the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) Safety Classification & Learning (SCL) model, not the model itself.
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| Category | Definition | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Actual SIF | An event that caused a fatality or a life-altering / life-threatening injury. | Fall from height resulting in permanent impairment. |
| Potential SIF | An event where a fatality or life-altering injury was a realistic outcome, but did not occur. Injury may have been minor or absent. | Load swings through a position a worker occupied moments earlier. |
| SIF precursor | A condition or practice with a realistic potential to produce a SIF if it recurs — no event required. | A missing machine guard found during inspection; a lockout routinely skipped. |
| Non-SIF | Everything else. Still investigated, but through the standard process. | Strain lifting a box; minor laceration. |
| Step | Question | If yes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Did the event result in a fatality or life-altering injury? | Classify Actual SIF. Stop. |
| 2 | Was a high-energy source present and released or uncontrolled? | Go to step 3. |
| 3 | Was a person in, or could a person reasonably have been in, the line of fire? | Go to step 4. |
| 4 | Was the control that prevented harm absent, failed, or a matter of chance? | Classify Potential SIF. |
| 5 | No event, but a condition or practice meeting steps 2–4 exists? | Record as SIF precursor. |
Use this to answer step 2 consistently. Tick every source present at the time of the event.
| Requirement | What good looks like | Y / N / N-A | Evidence or gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Life-saving controls bypassed | Lockout skipped, permit not raised, guard removed, fall protection not clipped. | ||
| Line-of-fire exposure normalised | Workers routinely under suspended loads, in swing paths, or between vehicle and structure. | ||
| Energy isolation not verified | Locks applied but zero energy never proven at the point of work. | ||
| Working at height without adequate control | Ladders substituting for a platform; anchorage improvised. | ||
| Confined space entry outside procedure | Entry without testing, attendant or rescue capability. | ||
| Mobile equipment and pedestrian interaction | No separation, blind areas uncontrolled. | ||
| Emergency and rescue capability absent | A plan that relies on calling 911 with no on-site capability. | ||
| Contractor working outside your system | High-energy work performed without your permit or oversight. |
| Requirement | What good looks like | Y / N / N-A | Evidence or gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Escalation | Notified to senior leadership within a defined time, regardless of injury outcome. | ||
| Investigation depth | Full root-cause investigation by a trained lead, not a supervisor form. | ||
| Control verification | Verify the failed control across every other location where it is relied on. | ||
| Tracked separately | Reported as its own metric, never blended into the total recordable rate. | ||
| Learning shared | Communicated organisation-wide, including to contractors. | ||
| Closure verified | Corrective actions verified effective, not just marked complete. |
| Jurisdiction | Legislative trigger | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Ontario | A person is killed or critically injured from any cause at a workplace: notify an inspector, committee, health and safety representative and trade union, if any, immediately, and send a written report within 48 hours. “Critically injured” is defined in O. Reg. 420/21 (life in jeopardy, unconsciousness, substantial blood loss, a fractured leg or arm, amputation of a leg, arm, hand or foot, burns to a major portion of the body, loss of sight in an eye). Written notice within four days if a person is disabled from usual work or needs medical attention after an accident, explosion, fire or workplace violence and nobody dies or is critically injured. | OHSA s. 51(1), s. 52(1); O. Reg. 420/21, s. 1(1) |
| Alberta | Report to a Director as soon as possible when a worker dies, or when there is reason to believe a worker has been or will be admitted to hospital beyond treatment in an emergency room or urgent care facility. | OHS Act, SLA 2020, c. O-2.2, s. 33(1)–(2) |
Sources: EEI, Power to Prevent SIF; ontario.ca, OHSA; ontario.ca, O. Reg. 420/21; Alberta King’s Printer, OHS Act. Other provinces differ; check yours.
High-energy source(s) present:
Was a person in the line of fire, or could they reasonably have been?
What actually prevented harm — a control, or chance?
Control:
Where else is this same control relied on?
| Action | Owner | Due | Verified effective |
|---|---|---|---|
Our consultants (CRSP Certified · COR & ISO 45001 Lead Auditors) can adapt this to your workplace or review your safety program with you.
This resource is general guidance, not legal advice. Confirm every requirement against the current regulation in your jurisdiction before relying on it.