Company Culture Is Among Topics of ACCC Reporting Guide

Having a good "compliance culture" is among the elements of a December guideline on mandatory reporting from the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC). This section includes advice to provide appropriate company staffers with a notice that explains reporting obligations, defines "serious injury or illness," and warns that reporting is required no matter the source, including news reports and social media posts.

There also is a list of sample questions for fleshing out the information that will be sent to ACCC. Most of them address incident scenarios and harms although others seek product identification and ensuring the company can contact the reporter for follow up.

There is a flowchart to aid in deciding whether to report plus a related checklist.

ACCC additionally urged creation of compliance programs, and the guidance (bit.ly/32D9AmT) has links to templates the agency created based on four company sizes ranging from micro-businesses to large corporations.

Other chapters address Australia's mandatory reporting law, who has obligations under it, types of incidents subject to reporting, those that are not, steps of the reporting process, and what to expect after reporting. There is a glossary.

The guide further includes advice for non-required reporting. This involves not only the now-standard advice from most regulators to err on the side of reporting. It also suggests that companies look at the incident scenario to assess near misses – situations that did not rise to death or serious injury/illness, but might should they recur. Also noted is potential worsening of current injury/illness.