How to report a workplace accident in the Philippines

What you have to report

The rules use set terms. Learn them, because they decide the deadline.

A disabling injury is a work injury that ends in death, permanent total disability, permanent partial disability or temporary total disability. Temporary total disability means the worker cannot work for a day or more. Death counts whatever time passes between the injury and the death.

A dangerous occurrence can be reportable even if nobody is hurt. DO 252-25 lists them.

• A boiler explosion, or the explosion of a pressure receiver or gas container.
• A grinding wheel or other power-driven revolving wheel bursting.
• A crane, derrick, winch or hoist collapsing, or a crane overturning. A broken chain or rope sling alone does not count.
• Scaffolding, platforms, trenches, excavations or walls collapsing on a construction site.
• A fire or explosion that damages the structure and stops work in that place, or stops plant for 24 hours or more.
• An electrical failure with fire or explosion that damages the plant and stops it for 24 hours or more.
• In mining: hazardous chemical or gas exposure, or a collapse of mine structures.

Who reports

The employer must send DOLE every required report. That duty also covers contractors, subcontractors and anyone who controls the work (DO 252-25 Sec. 4).

Your safety officer does the urgent part. DO 252-25 tells the safety officer to report accidents, disabling injuries, imminent dangers and dangerous occurrences to the DOLE office for the workplace within 24 hours.

Where work is contracted out, the principal files the WAIR. It must list the contractors' and subcontractors' workers at the site.

Workers and their representatives may also report accidents and dangerous occurrences. They can go to the employer, to DOLE or to other agencies, and can call the DOLE Hotline 1349. Nobody may punish them for it (Sec. 7).

How fast, and on which form

The OSH programme template in DO 252-25 (Annex B) sets out the steps. A death, a permanent total disability or a dangerous occurrence goes to the DOLE Regional Office within 24 hours. Use the Work Accident/Incident Notification form. The OSH Standards say to use the fastest means you have.

After your investigation, send the work accident report on the WAIR form.

Other disabling injuries, such as permanent partial or temporary total disability, go to the Regional Office on the WAIR within 30 days.

The regular reports

Three reports run on a calendar, accident or not. File them through the DOLE Online Compliance Portal at reports.dole.gov.ph, or at the DOLE Regional, Provincial or Field Office for your establishment.

• WAIR (Employer's Work Accident/Illness Report): every 30th of the month, even with no accident, illness or disabling injury.
• AEDR (Annual Work Accident/Illness Exposure Data Report): by 30 January of the next year, even with no accidents.
• AMR (Annual Medical Report): by the last day of March of the next year.

Records to keep

Keep an accident and illness record open for inspection at all times. Rule 1054 of the OSH Standards lists what it must hold. DO 252-25 adds two things. Record and investigate minor injuries too. Record and report all near misses.

• Date of the accident or illness.
• The worker's name, sex, age and job at the time.
• The causes you found.
• The nature and extent of the disability, and the days lost.
• Any damage to materials, equipment or machinery, with the cost.
• When you sent the first notice and report to DOLE.

Penalties for not reporting

DO 252-25 Sec. 42 fines willful failure to prepare, keep and submit the WAIR, AEDR or AMR. The fine is PHP 1,000 for a first offence, PHP 2,000 for a second and PHP 3,000 for a third. The fines run daily until you fix the breach, up to PHP 100,000 a day.

A further PHP 100,000 applies on top in some cases. These include a false statement or record sent to DOLE, and retaliation against a worker who gave information. Obstructing an investigation counts too. So does willful non-compliance that exposes a worker to, or causes, death, serious injury or serious illness.

The employer, contractor, subcontractor and whoever controls the work share the liability (RA 11058 Sec. 21; DO 252-25 Sec. 36).

If danger continues

Workers may refuse work while an imminent danger exists. The safety officer may stop the work. The employer, safety officer or worker must tell DOLE straight away, and DOLE investigates (DO 252-25 Sec. 6).

If the stoppage is the employer's fault, the workers are paid for that time (Sec. 38).

The first hour

Work through these in order. Write the time next to each one.

• Stop the work and make the area safe. Isolate power and machines.
• Give first aid and arrange transport to the nearest hospital if needed.
• Leave the scene as it is, except to save a life or stop more harm.
• Photograph the scene and write down witnesses' names and numbers.
• Decide the category: death, permanent total disability or dangerous occurrence means the 24-hour notice.
• The safety officer calls or contacts the DOLE office for the workplace and notes the time and the person spoken to.
• Open the accident record and start the investigation for the WAIR.

Sources

1. Department Order 252-25: Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations of RA 11058, DOLE Bureau of Working Conditions.
2. Occupational Safety and Health Standards (2019 reprint), Rule 1050, DOLE Bureau of Working Conditions.
3. Republic Act No. 11058, Supreme Court E-Library.
4. DOLE Online Compliance Portal, Department of Labor and Employment.
5. Occupational safety and health forms, DOLE Bureau of Working Conditions.

This is practical guidance, not legal advice. Laws and codes of practice change; always check the current official text and your site's own procedures.