How to report a deviation: step by step

Short answer

A deviation is an event that breaches the rules. All employees must report faults and defects, and the employer must have procedures to detect, correct and prevent them. Report the deviation at once, find the cause, set actions with an owner and a deadline, and close it when the action is done. Serious accidents must also be reported to the Labour Inspection Authority.

What is a deviation?

The Internal Control Regulations do not use the word deviation, but the Labour Inspection Authority explains it like this: every event that involves a breach of the rules counts as a deviation. Ordinary variation in daily operations is not a deviation. Examples could be missing protective equipment, a procedure that was not followed, a near miss or an injury.

Many companies also use the system for improvement suggestions, meaning things that are not breaches but could be better. That is a good practice, but not a requirement.

What does the law require?

The employer must have procedures to detect, correct and prevent breaches of the requirements. This is in section 3-1 of the Working Environment Act and section 5 of the Internal Control Regulations, and the procedures must be in writing.
Employees must take part in the systematic HSE work (section 2-3), and must immediately notify the employer and the safety representative of faults and defects that may endanger life or health, if they cannot correct them themselves.
The Labour Inspection Authority writes that all employees have a duty to report deviations and defects, while the employer is responsible for having the system.

How to report a deviation

The law does not say what a report must contain. This is a suggestion that works in most companies:

What happened, and what should have happened?
When and where?
Who was involved or affected?
Is anyone injured, or could anyone have been?
What has been done immediately?
A photo, if possible.

Keep the report factual. It is the event that is reported, not the person. Make it easy to report, otherwise it will not be done.

From report to closure

Receive. Someone is responsible for seeing the report within a reasonable time, and gives feedback to the person who reported.
Secure. If there is danger here and now, act at once, for example by shutting something off or clearing it away.
Find the cause. The Labour Inspection Authority recommends asking “why” until you find the underlying cause. It is the cause, not the injury, that should be recorded as the deviation.
Set actions. Write down what is to be done, who is responsible and when it must be done.
Follow up. Check that the action has been carried out and that it works.
Close, and learn. Close the deviation, and bring it into the next risk assessment. The Labour Inspection Authority writes that the overview of deviations should be part of its basis. See the guide on risk assessment.

What must also be reported outside the company?

An internal deviation is not the same as an accident that must be reported. When an employee dies or is seriously injured in a workplace accident, the employer must immediately notify the Labour Inspection Authority and the police (section 5-2). The Labour Inspection Authority has a separate page explaining what to report and how. Injuries and illness caused by work must also be recorded, and occupational injury reported to NAV (the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration). Always check the Labour Inspection Authority’s page on reporting an accident, because the rules are strict and apply whether or not you have a deviation system.

Whistleblowing about reprehensible conditions is something different from a deviation. See the staff handbook guide for whistleblowing procedures.

Common mistakes

Deviations are registered, but nobody closes them.
The action only fixes the damage, not the cause.
Employees do not report because they are afraid of being singled out.
Near misses are not counted as deviations, and you lose the learning.

How the portal helps

In the HSE system you can register deviations and improvement suggestions, follow them up and close them, with a notification to the person responsible. You also have tasks with an owner and a deadline, and statistics on deviations.

Read about the HSE system

Sources

The rules change. Always check the current text with the sources below. Most sources are in Norwegian. This guide is general information and not legal advice.