All incident notifications are investigated. Prior to 2019, only investigations followed up via the planned inspection process were included in the investigation number reported.

Notifications are investigated to determine if there is a potential breach of the OPGGS Act, its regulations or an accepted permissioning document.

Investigations include notifiable incidents, workforce complaints or information provided by a third-party.

Notifications are subject to an enquiry-level investigation in order to triage the incident and determine if follow-up investigation is warranted.

If NOPSEMA verifies a breach has occurred, then it will seek to correct that breach by providing advice, issuing recommendations or taking the appropriate enforcement action.

NOPSEMA’s independent Investigation Team will investigate matters with the objective of holding the responsible parties to account; up to and including referring the matter to the Commonwealth Director for Public Prosecutions (CDPP).

In 2018–19, NOPSEMA received 471 reports of notifiable incidents, 6 complaints, and 58 instances of information provided. During the reporting period, NOPSEMA undertook 529 investigations.

Figure 8: Investigations 2018–19

Table 3: Notifiable incidents, complaints and information provided 2014–15 to
2018–19