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What to do when a serious incident occurs

The UAW has long been committed to improving working conditions and protecting the health and safety of our members. We recognize the importance of timely investigation involving serious incidents and fatalities affecting our members in order to find methods to prevent these tragedies from happening in the future. To that end, all International Staff and Local Union Leadership should review and follow this long-standing policy of fatality notifications to the International Union. 

The Incident Reporting Process outlined below comes from UAW Administrative Letter 62 posted in the Local Union Information System (LUIS). For more information on this document, please contact your local union. As a rank and file UAW member, if you need to report a serious incident, reach out to your local union leadership immediately.

How incident reporting works

  1. When a serious work-related incident involving the death of a member or an exposure likely to become fatal occurs, the local union president (or his/her designee) must notify their UAW Regional Office and UAW National Department, if applicable, as soon as possible.
  2. The President’s Office of the UAW and the UAW Health & Safety Department must be notified of the incident by the Region or National Department as soon as possible.
  3. The Director of the Health & Safety Department will notify the International UAW President of the incident and will provide a summary of pertinent information as well as details related to the on-site investigation.
  4. The Health & Safety Department will prepare to assist in the investigation of the incident, including on-site investigation as needed. On-site investigation is the responsibility of the Region or National Department; however, it is a policy of the President’s Office to be involved in the investigations.
  5. On-site fatality investigations will be coordinated with the Region and National Department where applicable. The Health & Safety Department will take the lead during on-site investigations unless the National Department has trained health and safety staff able to conduct fatality investigations. In those instances, the Health & Safety Department will take a support role in the on-site investigation.
  6. Reports of fatality investigations detailing the incident as well as corrective action steps taken to prevent future incidents will be developed and distributed upon the conclusion of the investigation. The UAW Health & Safety Department report will be coordinated with National Department reports where applicable.

Process Outline

When serious incident or fatality occurs, contact your local union leadership immediately so they can take the proper action. In after-hours situations where a local union is unable to notify their Region or National Department, the Health & Safety Department maintains a 24-hour answering service with instructions on how to report an emergency, here.

  • Start Here

    Work-related incident involving the death of a member or an exposure likely to become fatal occurs. Contact your local union leadership immediately and report the incident.

  • Phone Phone

    Step 1

    • Local Union notifies their Region and/or National Department as soon as possible.
    • Local Union notifies UAW Health & Safety Department of incident through after-hours call-in procedure.
  • Users Users

    Step 2

    • Region or National Department notifies President’s Office and Health & Safety Department immediately
    • UAW Health & Safety Department notifies Region and National Department immediately.
  • Camera Camera

    Step 3

    Director of Health & Safety Department notifies President of incident and details related to investigation.

  • Tools Tools

    Step 4

    Health & Safety assists in investigation of incident, including on-site investigation. (Big 3 Auto have their own contractual notification process for all incidents, injuries and fatalities. Big 3 joint Health and Safety Departments will contact our department for additional support if needed.)

  • Conclusion

    Health & Safety Department develops and distributes fatality investigation reports detailing the incident and actions taken to correct safety issues upon the conclusion of the investigation to both UAW International and Regional Leadership.

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After-Hours Reporting

You may also send emergency texts to Matt S. Uptmor or Jim Holton. For their contact information, please see UAW Administrative Letter – Volume No. 62, Letter No.1, January 13, 2023 via the Local Union Information System (LUIS). Local Union leadership will have access to LUIS.

8000 E. Jefferson Ave.
Detroit, MI 48214
(313) 926-5563

Phone Phone

Contact Health & Safety Department

During regular business hours, Health & Safety Department can be reached via the UAW Solidarity House phone line.

8000 E. Jefferson Ave.
Detroit, MI 48214
(313) 926-5000

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