Welcome to Issue 37 of Crash Towing Industry News.

This week’s newsletter considers the legislative requirements for all towing businesses and towing workers to report notifiable occurrences.

What is a notifiable occurrence?

A ‘notifiable occurrence’ means any of the following:

• A notifiable incident as defined in the Work Health and Safety Act 2020 s.35
• An incident that exposes a towing worker or any other person to a serious risk to the person’s health or safety
• An incident involving a tow truck that must be reported to the police under the Road Traffic Act 1974 s.56(1)
• An incident involving a tow truck that results in:
  • an injury that is treated by an ambulance officer; or 
  • an injured person being treated at a hospital
• An incident involving damage to, or a mechanical or other fault in, a tow truck that renders the tow truck unsuitable to be used in the conduct of a towing business without substantial or significant mechanical repairs or services
• An incident involving the conduct of a towing worker while engaged in work for the purposes of a towing business that results in a complaint to the police involving allegations of:
  • assault; or
  • physical threats or other intimidation
• An incident involving the conduct of a towing worker while engaged in work for the purposes of a towing business that results in the towing worker being charged with a serious offence

What is a notifiable incident defined in the Work Health and Safety Act 2020 s.35?

Any incident involving a death, serious injury or illness or a dangerous incident that must be reported to WorkSafe must also be reported to DTMI.

What incidents must be reported under the Road Traffic Act 1974 s.56(1)?

Any time that a tow truck is involved in an incident occasioning bodily harm to the driver or another person, the incident must be reported to the Police and to DTMI. It is not sufficient to only provide a Police report number.

What are my towing business reporting obligations for notifiable occurrences?

A towing service provider operating a regulated towing business must report to the Towing Governance and Regulation (TG&R) team any notifiable occurrence that occurs in relation to the regulated towing business. 

What are my towing worker reporting obligations for notifiable occurrences?

A towing worker must report to TG&R any notifiable occurrence that occurs in relation to the towing worker while the towing worker is:

• Engaging in towing work for the purposes of a regulated towing business
• Obtaining or attempting to obtain an authority to tow for the purposes of a regulated towing business

How are notifiable occurrences to be reported?

Whether as a towing service provider or a towing worker, all notifiable occurrences must be reported in accordance with the following requirements:

• As soon as practicable after the towing service provider or towing worker becomes aware of the notifiable occurrence
• In the manner and form approved by the CEO, available from Transport WA: Record keeping and reporting
• Emailed to TG&R at towing@transport.wa.gov.au 

What happens if I fail to report a notifiable occurrence?

All towing service providers (authorised towing businesses) and towing workers in the circumstances detailed above have a legislated requirement to report notifiable occurrences. Failure to provide a report in the prescribed timeframe and manner may result in enforcement action, including the suspension or cancellation of authorisation to conduct regulated (crash) towing.  

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