Incident Reporting Procedures

Whenever any incident or near-miss occurs, the facility should conduct a careful investigation of the event and document any lessons learned so that future incidents or near misses can be prevented both within the organization and in the broader hydrogen industry.

  • Incident investigations should be conducted by subject matter experts using a “no-blame” approach and should include:
    • The determination of the root causes
    • The development of lessons learned
    • The implementation of corrective actions
    • Creation of documentation for internal and external distribution
  • A risk reduction plan should be developed to address the identified root cause(s) to prevent future accidents
  • Incident reports should be widely disseminated to maximize organizational learning
  • There may be regional, national, or local requirements for reporting serious incidents. For example, in the USA when there is a fatality or hospitalization of three or more people, requirements include
    • Reporting within 48 hours after the occurrence of an accident either orally or in writing to the nearest office of the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
    • The report must relate the circumstances of the accident, the number of fatalities, and the extent of any injuries.
    • Additional reports, in writing or otherwise, concerning the accident may also be required.

Hydrogen safety incidents and near misses should be reported in the Hydrogen Lessons Learned Reporting Database. Please share your incidents and near misses with others who are working with hydrogen so they can benefit from your experiences. All incident reports will be "sanitized" to ensure that individuals and organizations are not identified.