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Incident Report Guide: All You Need To Know

 Prevent critical safety issues in the workplace through comprehensive incident reports

What is an Incident Report?

An incident report is a tool that documents any event that may or may not have caused injuries to a person or damage to a company asset. It is used to capture injuries and accidents, near misses, property and equipment damage, health and safety issues, security breaches and misconducts in the worksite.

What is the Purpose of Incident Reporting?

As part of Incident Management , the purpose of incident reporting is to record an incident, determine its possible cause, document any actions taken, and make it known to stakeholders. An incident report can be used in the investigation and analysis of an event or as safety documents that indicate potential risks and uncontrolled hazards found on the work site for future assessments (e.g., ergonomic assessments ).

An incident report is utilized by:

• an authority to create a report of an incident;
• a worker to report an incident he/ she has witnessed;
• any member of the organization to raise awareness about an incident that has occurred in the worksite.

Top 3 Benefits of Incident Reporting

The management and their workers should know why incident reporting can not only improve an organization’s safety but also help the business stand out from others and, most importantly, can help create a sound and healthy working environment and culture for workers.

1. Immediate Reinforcement of Actions

In the event that an incident happens at work, documenting and reporting the details to management can induce immediate and necessary measures to be taken (e.g., providing first aid ). This also heightens the seriousness and gravity of any incident, reminding all workers that these events should be reported, whether big or small. Immediate action also helps leaders magnify their responsibilities in ensuring a safer place for their workers.

2. Communication on Hazards and Threats

Communicating threats, risks, and hazards to all concerned and affected workers in an organization helps raise awareness of possible dangers that may arise. This could be an essential tool for industries in which tasks are associated with the highest risks, such as the construction, manufacturing, mining industries, and even offices, which are prone to accidents because of the potential hazards that can be overlooked.

3. Continuous Improvement of Processes

An incident report provides a clear picture of what an organization should focus on resolving, changing, improving, or eliminating. This also helps the management implement new policies to determine the efficacy of these changes for safety and quality.

What are the 4 Types of Incident Reports?

Here are 4 types of incidents you should report:

• Worker injury incident
• Environmental incident
• Property damage incident
• Vehicle incident
• Fire incident
• Near misses – these are situations where the people involved had no injuries but could have been potentially harmed by the risks detected.
• Adverse events – related to medicine, vaccines, and medical devices (in compliance with ISO 14971 ). These events occur when an act of commission or omission harms a patient rather than the existing disease or condition.
• No harm events – these are incidents that need to be communicated across an organization to raise awareness of any harm that may happen.

Additionally, there are two major ways to create a comprehensive incident report: list type and narrative type. List-type reporting allows users to enumerate all the relevant information in a straight-to-the-point approach. Narrative reporting, meanwhile, involves documenting events in a descriptive or storytelling manner. As the keyword suggests, it narrates the whole incident from start to finish.

What to Include in an Incident Report

To ensure an effective incident reporting, it should be accurate, factual, complete, graphic, and valid. Here’s a list of elements that would guide you during the documentation of an incident:

• General information
• Setting or environment
• Affected people
• Injuries and the severity
• Administered treatment
• Property and equipment damages
• Actions of people involved during the incident

Take a look at some incident report examples here

The layout of information in an incident report form may vary depending on a number of factors. But should generally include the following elements:

• Introduction – The first part of the incident report form covers the who, what, when, and where of the incident.
• Body – Talk about the incident from start to finish, ensuring details are laid out in chronological order to avoid confusion.
• Conclusion – Was the incident resolved? How? If the incident was not resolved, explain why, and provide the steps that need to be taken in order to resolve it.
• Sign off – Include the full name and signature of the incident report writer for accountability and record-keeping.

Create your own Incident Report Template

Build from scratch or choose from our collection of free, ready-to-download, and customizable templates.

How to Write an Incident Report: A Step-by-Step Guide (with Examples)

Now that we have an idea of what information should be included in an incident report, here’s a sample walkthrough through an incident report PDF sample to give you a clearer picture of how you can create an effective incident report.

Step 1: Provide Fundamental Information

Following the outline of an incident report form , the first thing you would want to collect are fundamental information. You can do this by answering the following questions:

• What type of injury was caused, if any? Was it fatal or non-fatal?
• Was there any property damage?
• When and where did it take place?
• What task was being done at the time when the incident occurred?
• What was the environment like?

Using the scenario above, the first section of your report would begin to look something like this:

Incident Report Sample fig. 1

In our incident report example, we took advantage of adding photo evidence to better illustrate the environment where the incident took place. Notice that the photo attached had an annotation. Annotating gives the reader(s) of your report a clearer idea of what to look at.

Step 2: Take Note of Any Damages and Injuries

The next thing you would want to do is determine the results of the incident. Did it cause any damage or injure anyone? If so, you should describe it in detail and, if appropriate, provide photo evidence of the damage.

Incident Report Sample fig. 2

Step 3: Identify Affected Individual(s)

Provide the names of the people involved along with their job details, such as title, shift arrangement, and other relevant information.

Incident Report Sample fig. 3

Step 4: Identify Witnesses and Take Their Statements

Record the names of people present during the incident and gather their statements. These will be valuable in understanding the sequence of events that led to the incident and may even provide you a better insight into whether or not the behavior of the affected employees was a factor that contributed to the injury or damage. Witnesses’ statements can be noted verbatim or paraphrased. Remember to have the witnesses sign off on their statements to verify the accuracy of what has been recorded.

Incident Report Sample fig. 4

Step 5: Take Action

This refers to the actions that should be taken after the incident. It includes corrective actions that will eliminate recurrence of the incident. The corrective actions section of your incident report can also include the actions that you need to take in order to complete the report.

Incident Report Sample fig. 5

Step 6: Close Your Report

Upon completion of the previous sections, you may collect management’s comments on the incident. For accountability measures, you, as the reporter, and someone from upper management should sign off. This will validate that the information stated in the incident report is truthful and unquestionable.

See this incident report PDF sample for a comprehensive guide.

Incident Report Sample fig. 6

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Effective Incident Reporting with SafetyCulture

Why use safetyculture.

Incident reports should be properly kept, as they are an important record of every organization. Creating incident reports can be time-consuming and requires rigorous documentation of the incident. SafetyCulture can be used to streamline the completion and record-keeping of incident reports.

Optimize your organization’s operations and workflow with SafetyCulture. Our digital platform enables you to: 

• Simplify processes by automating manual and repetitive tasks 
• Maintain safety, quality, and compliance standards with digital checklists
• Create powerful workflows by integrating your existing systems and software 
• Gain greater visibility and transparency with real-time reporting

Take advantage of our comprehensive features to transform your organization’s capabilities towards operations excellence.

FAQs about Incident Reports

What is the difference between an incident report and a police report.

The main difference falls on the one who completes it. A police report is a detailed documentation of a crime written by an officer or any representative of a police department who was present at the crime scene. On the other hand, an incident report can be written by anyone who wants to report any events that might or might not have caused harm to someone or something. Police reports require an investigation to follow, while an incident report can be used as a supporting document for an investigation or analysis of events.

What is considered an incident?

Generally, an incident is defined as any event, condition, or situation which:

• Causes disruption or interference to an organization;
• Causes significant risks that could affect members within an organization;
• Impacts on the systems and operation of worksites; and/ or
• Attracts negative media attention or a negative profile for the worksite

When should I report an incident?

The rule of thumb is that as soon as an incident occurs, an incident report should be completed. Minor injuries should be reported and taken as seriously as major injuries. These injuries may get worse and lead to more serious injuries or health issues if not addressed.

Jona Tarlengco

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How to Write an Incident Report at Work

Praburam Srinivasan

Growth Marketing Manager

June 13, 2024

Accidents happen, even at work. However, how you handle them and prevent similar incidents from happening again can make a big difference. 

Writing an incident report is one way to ensure that. 

Knowing how to file an incident report is important whether you’ve witnessed a slip and fall or experienced a malfunctioning piece of equipment firsthand. A detailed incident report will protect you and your colleagues and help your workplace create a safer environment for everyone.

We’ll cover everything you need about risk identification and creating a compelling work incident report. We’ll also explain what information to include and how to structure your report. You’ll also find helpful tips and resources to document everything accurately.

What Is an Incident Report?

What is an incident in the context of occupational safety, why report incidents: the purpose of incident reporting, the difference between an incident report and a police report, boosting health and safety at the workplace, contribution to continuous improvement of processes and systems, elements of a good incident report, the basic format of an incident report, 1. gather fundamental information about the incident, 2. analyze and reflect, 3. identify affected individuals and take notes of damages or injuries, 4. establish a corrective action plan, 5. close the incident report, how to respond to an incident report, incident reporting mistakes to avoid, 1. security and compliance in it, 2. corporate incident reporting related to employees, 3. medical incident reporting in hospitals, importance of incident report training, write incident reports efficiently with the right tools.

An incident report is a critical document in any workplace, serving as the official record of an unforeseen event. Consider it a comprehensive record or a risk assessment template capturing the incident’s who, what, when, why, and how.

Let’s consider an incident report example: Say a kitchen staff member suffers a burn from hot oil while frying food. The incident report will document the exact date, time, and location of the spill and detail the events leading up to the incident, including refilling the fryer or reaching for a utensil. 

The report will clearly state the severity of the injury and any first aid provided. It’ll investigate potential causes, such as a malfunctioning fryer handle or incorrect oil temperature. This information becomes a vital tool for preventing similar incidents from happening again.

Understanding the Incident Report

Incident reporting or incident management is essential in ensuring workplace safety. It’s formally documenting any unexpected event that could have resulted in injury, property damage, or disruption.  

In occupational safety, an incident refers to any unplanned event that arises in the workplace and can potentially cause harm. 

The critical aspect is the potential for harm. Even with no immediate injury or damage, an incident highlights a potential safety risk that needs attention. This proactive approach allows organizations to address issues before they escalate into serious accidents.

Effective incident reporting is the backbone of any robust health and safety program. Here’s why every organization must take action:

• Preventive measure: Incident reports are goldmines for identifying and fixing safety issues before they snowball into major accidents
• Cost-saving mechanism: Prompt reporting saves time, money, and resources that would otherwise be spent dealing with serious accidents and their aftermath
• Safety for all: A strong reporting culture prioritizes the well-being of everyone in the organization by creating a safer work environment
• Compliance regulations: Regular incident reporting ensures your organization stays compliant with health and safety regulations, avoiding costly penalties
• Track trends: Reporting helps identify patterns and anomalies in incidents, allowing for targeted improvements in safety protocols

Don’t wait for a serious accident to happen. Make incident reporting a routine practice in your organization today!

While incident and police reports document events, their purposes and uses differ significantly. There is a large spectrum in which some incidents may require a police report, and some may not. This table provides a clear breakdown of the key differences between these vital documents:

Both employees and employers must know the difference between these reports. Incident reports are vital for creating a safe work environment, while police reports are essential for addressing potential criminal activity. 

The Benefits and Importance of Incident Reporting

Incident reporting isn’t just about paperwork; it’s a powerful tool for building a safer workplace. Let’s explore how and why it’s crucial. 

Forget chance encounters—safety thrives on vigilance!

Incident reporting isn’t a passive box-ticking exercise. Every reported incident—from a near-miss to a minor slip-up—helps make the work environment safer.

Its benefits extend far beyond avoiding disaster. Incident reporting creates a culture of safety where employees can speak up about potential hazards. 

Open communication is vital—after all, who knows the day-to-day challenges better than the people on the front lines? By taking every incident seriously and investigating thoroughly, organizations genuinely commit to employee well-being.

Incident reporting strengthens an organization’s legal standing, too. By maintaining a comprehensive record of reported incidents, employers can show they’re actively managing safety risks and adhering to health and safety regulations. This avoids costly penalties and positions the organization as a responsible employer, attracting top talent.

Effective incident reporting drives continuous improvement in safety processes and systems. It goes beyond mere documentation; it’s a powerful tool fueled by objective language that sheds light on potential weaknesses.

Every reported incident, big or small, becomes a data point. Organizations can pinpoint areas where safety protocols might be lacking by analyzing trends. This raises awareness among management and the investigation team, prompting a deeper dive into potential hazards. 

Incident data allows for a laser focus on the most critical areas. For example, a safety officer armed with reports highlights repetitive near-misses with a specific piece of equipment. They can then advocate for improved maintenance procedures or equipment upgrades. 

The investigation team doesn’t simply analyze; they act. Incident reports inform process reviews and revisions. Maybe a particular workflow needs to be adjusted to minimize worker exposure to a certain hazard, or perhaps additional training is required for a specific task. Organizations can continuously refine processes by learning from past incidents.

Now that you know the benefits, importance, and other details of incident reporting, let’s examine how to file one. 

How to Write an Incident Report

Filling out an incident report isn’t just about filling in blanks—it’s about creating a clear and valuable record for future safety improvements. 

An ideal incident report form will look something like this:

Understanding the crucial details you need to gather allows you to write a valuable factual report. Here’s your essential checklist:

• Lock down the basics—the location, exact time, and incident date. This becomes vital if further investigation is required
• Describe the physical and environmental conditions that might have played a role. Include any potential hazards present in the area
• List the names of everyone involved, their job titles or positions, and their departments
• Be specific. Detail the type of injury, its severity, and the body parts affected
• Capture statements from people who witnessed the incident. Their perspectives are valuable
• Document any initial treatment, first aid administered, or medications given to the injured person(s) for tracking employee recovery
• Assess and report on any damage to assets, materials, facilities, or equipment during the incident
• Narrate the incident chronologically, detailing the sequence of events that led to its occurrence
• Describe the actions of everyone involved at the exact time the incident happened

A well-documented incident report is a powerful tool for building a safer workplace for everyone.

Here’s a breakdown of a foolproof format that ensures transparent, objective reporting every time. 

The key is factual information—written in the third person to state facts and omit any biases or opinions:

• Who’s who: List everyone involved in the incident. If names aren’t available, use their role (e.g., customer, guest)
• The incident: Summarize the event in three concise sentences
• Time and place: Pinpoint the exact date and time of the occurrence. If unsure of the precise time, provide an estimate. Location is crucial—be as specific as possible (e.g., Mercato Conference Room, 19th floor, Building A)
• Chronological clarity: Narrate the incident from start to finish, ensuring details flow chronologically. Maintain focus on the who, what, when, and where you established in the introduction
• Conclude properly: Clearly state whether the incident was resolved. If not, explain why and outline the necessary steps to achieve a resolution
• Accountability matters: Include your full name and signature to demonstrate accountability and maintain accurate record-keeping

But don’t let workplace incidents become a record-keeping nightmare. We’ve got a perfect tool to file an incident report. ClickUp’s Workplace Incident Report Template captures and documents vital details efficiently. 

You just need to fill in the necessary information; the template will handle the rest of the process! 

 Here’s how it elevates your incident reporting:

• Guarantees precise and uniform reporting of all occurrences
• Offers insight into the fundamental safety concerns
• Enables swifter action when dealing with incidents
• Establishes a documented history for legal and regulatory purposes

Let’s now understand all the steps you must take while writing an incident report.

Don’t waste time sifting through details—gather the essentials first! Here’s how to kick off your incident report:

• Specify the type and severity of injuries and define if they are fatal or non-fatal
• Assess any property damage that occurred
• Pinpoint the exact date, time, and location of the incident
• Describe the task being performed at the time of the incident
• Find out what the environment was like: too hot or too cold or a rainy day 
• Add photos or annotations at the end as further evidence

By gathering these fundamental details upfront, you’ll lay a solid foundation for your incident report, allowing you to narrate the events that unfolded.

Now, narrate the incident step by step. Take your time here; comprehensive details matter.  Consider writing in a clear third-person account, including all surrounding information. This ensures accuracy when explaining what happened. Remember, strive for clarity and conciseness—reviewing staff needs to understand the sequence of events.

After describing the events, delve into the ‘why.’ Look at potential contributing factors. Was it a workspace obstacle or faulty equipment? Be honest and analyze all aspects of the occurrence to identify every factor. 

Take accountability for your role, if any, and explain clearly. Transparency and truthful reporting are essential for organizational analysis and preventing similar incidents.

Unveil the incident’s impact—did it cause injury or property damage? Be clear and assertive—a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ is crucial. If someone was injured, provide a detailed description of the injury’s severity.  For property damage, include photos as evidence—a picture is worth a thousand words.

Now, let’s delve deeper. Identify everyone involved: names, job titles, shifts, and relevant details. Next, gather statements from witnesses who were present during the incident. These accounts are invaluable for piecing together the sequence of events.

Witness statements can clarify whether the injured employee’s actions contributed to the incident or offer another perspective. Note their statements verbatim or paraphrase for clarity. Always obtain witness signatures to verify the accuracy of their accounts. 

An incident report isn’t just about documenting what happened; it’s about the after-action plan . Identify and implement corrective actions that target the root cause of the incident. 

Outline any actions needed to finalize the report itself. This ensures all necessary steps are documented for a complete and accurate record. By taking these actions, you’re not just closing the book on this incident but actively building a safer work environment for everyone.

Don’t let typos or factual errors cloud your report’s message! After completing your incident report, take the time to proofread it thoroughly. Double-check factual accuracy, grammar, punctuation, and overall clarity. Remember, your report needs to be crystal clear and easy to understand for everyone involved.

Once your report is polished to perfection, submit it to the appropriate recipient—your department manager, director, supervisor, or HR contact responsible for handling incident reports.  

Be prepared to answer any questions your supervisor might have after reviewing the report.  If submitting electronically or by mail, take the initiative and follow up with a phone call within 10 days. 

Incident reporting has two sides: learning to file one and responding to an incident report. Let’s explore the latter process more.

Responding to an incident report involves acknowledging the report, investigating the incident, and taking steps to prevent similar incidents from happening again. 

Here’s a breakdown of the key steps:

• Acknowledge the report: Thank the employee for reporting the incident. This shows appreciation for their willingness to come forward and helps create a safety culture. Let them know you’ve received the report and are reviewing it
• Investigate the incident: Gather more information if needed. This might involve interviewing the involved parties and witnesses or reviewing security footage. Analyze the root cause of the incident
• Take corrective actions: Depending on the severity of the incident, corrective actions might include:
• Implementing new safety procedures or updating existing ones
• Providing additional training for employees
• Taking disciplinary action, if necessary
• Follow-up: Inform the employee(s) involved about the outcome of the investigation and any corrective actions taken. Monitor the situation to ensure the corrective actions are effective in preventing similar incidents

Regardless of severity, every incident is an opportunity to improve workplace safety. Not everyone knows how to respond appropriately, so a ready-to-use incident communication plan can prove effective. 

Incidents are inevitable, but communication breakdowns during these critical times can be disastrous. ClickUp’s Incident Communication Plan Template lets you craft a clear and effective strategy, ensuring everyone stays informed. 

This template helps you

• Establish designated channels for clear and efficient communication during incidents
• Develop detailed action plans with specific roles and responsibilities assigned. Everyone knows their part, ensuring a swift and coordinated response
• Outline clear procedures for keeping stakeholders informed about the progress of the incident’s resolution. Transparency builds trust and fosters a sense of control during challenging situations

This template provides a clear communication plan to minimize disruption and quickly get your operations back on track.

You’ve learned how to file an incident report and respond to it aptly. Now, let’s look into things you must avoid in such a process. 

Incident reports are crucial to maintaining a safe and healthy work environment. However, even the best intentions can be undermined by common mistakes.  

This guide highlights key errors to avoid when filing an incident report:

• Ignoring or delaying reporting: Every big or small incident should be reported. Ignoring or delaying reporting can worsen the situation and make it harder to investigate the root cause
• Incomplete or inaccurate information: Ensure your report includes all the essential details—date, time, location, what happened, and who was involved. Strive for factual accuracy and avoid speculation
• Omitting witness statements: Witness accounts offer valuable insights into the sequence of events. Gather statements from anyone who witnessed the incident to gain a well-rounded perspective
• Focusing on blame: The goal of an incident report is to understand what happened and prevent future occurrences, not to assign blame. Focus on the facts and avoid accusatory language
• Skipping proofreading: Typos and factual errors can cloud the message of your report. Take the time to proofread for accuracy, grammar, punctuation, and overall clarity
• Not taking corrective action: Don’t let the report gather dust! Use the information to identify and implement corrective actions that prevent similar incidents from happening again
• Failing to follow up: If you’re injured, follow up with a doctor to ensure proper treatment and document any medical care received. For serious incidents, follow up with the appropriate authorities to ensure a proper investigation is conducted

Let’s examine some use cases for incident reporting and some tools that can help in such situations. 

Incident Report Samples and Examples

Incidents are a part of every industry. In the media and entertainment industry, workplace harassment or an accident on the set can be termed an incident. In a hospital, wrong medicines administered or doctors operating under the influence can be called an incident. 

Let’s examine use cases, examples, and incident reporting templates to understand situations in a particular industry! 

Security incidents are any events that compromise the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of an organization’s data, systems, or assets.

These incidents can range from minor inconveniences to major breaches and are caused by various factors, such as malicious attacks, accidental errors, system vulnerabilities, and insider threats.

Here’s a scenario where a security incident report would be used:

An employee receives a suspicious email that appears to be from their bank. The email urges them to click a link to verify their account information. The employee clicks on the link, which takes them to a fake website that looks identical to their bank’s login page. The employee enters their username and password, unknowingly giving the attacker access to their bank account.

The ClickUp Security Incident Report Template can help you when such an incident occurs.

Creating a security incident report helps you document the details of a security incident, including the date, time, and type of incident, as well as the individuals involved. 

Here are six ways to help you create a security incident report using the cybersecurity risk management framework within the template:

• Gather all the relevant information, such as the date of the incident, the type of incident (e.g., data breach, phishing attack), the individuals involved, and any other details that could be relevant. Use ClickUp Docs to keep track of all the necessary information
• Create the security incident report using the table view like a spreadsheet program. Start by entering the date of the incident, the type of incident, and the individuals involved
• Create Custom Fields to add specific details relevant to your organization’s needs
• Based on your report findings, assign tasks to the appropriate team members—investigation and security protocol updates
• Schedule recurring reviews to update your report as new information emerges, keeping you ahead of potential threats
• Set up milestones to monitor progress on security protocols and campaigns, ensuring continuous improvement

Employee-related incidents cover workplace events that could lead to injury, property damage, or a violation of company policy.

Some specific examples include safety violations, negligence, work environment issues, ergonomic issues, workplace harassment or violence, security breaches, and delays in filing documentation. 

When any kind of incident occurs to an employee, they must fill out an employee incident report form. Use the ClickUp Employee Incident Report Template , add it to your workspace, and get started. 

Here’s how you can use this template to facilitate the entire process:

• Create a dedicated project for each incident report, keeping everything organized and easy to find
• Work with stakeholders to ensure accurate and comprehensive recording of incident details
• Organize reports into clear categories, allowing you to effortlessly track progress and identify trends
• Set up notifications to stay on top of new and updated reports, ensuring you’re always in the loop
• Schedule regular meetings to discuss reports and address any potential issues before they escalate
• Monitor and analyze reports to identify areas for improvement and optimize your incident reporting process for maximum efficiency

In hospitals, medical incident reporting is a crucial system for documenting and investigating any unexpected event that could have resulted in or did result in harm to a patient, staff member, or visitor.

Medication errors, wrongful death, complaints about doctors, workplace violence or harassment, surgical errors, hospital-acquired infections, falls, and near misses are some examples of medical incidents. 

Anyone who witnesses or is involved in a medical incident must report it. This includes doctors, nurses, other healthcare professionals, patients, and family members.

Use ClickUp Brains’s AI Incident Report Generator and its project and task management solutions to generate incident reports for any industry or department and comply with necessary regulations. 

This innovative tool simplifies incident reporting by transforming essential details—date, location, involved parties, and the incident—into comprehensive reports in a flash.  

Advanced algorithms analyze the data you provide, pinpointing key factors and organizing everything into a structured, easy-to-read format. With consistent, thorough documentation for every incident, you can save valuable time on manual report writing.  

You benefit from improved incident management, enhanced communication, and a clear path to regulatory compliance.

If you want to create an action plan to prevent incidents, ClickUp’s Incident Action Plan Template can help you get started!

Don’t let incidents throw your operations into chaos. Here’s how this template can help you:

• Organize and coordinate your entire incident response team—everyone’s on the same page from the very start
• Break down complex tasks into manageable lists, ensuring swift delegation and resolution
• Provide clear and concise instructions for each step of the incident response process—no confusion, just efficient action

It’s better to have a team for incident response once an incident is reported. For this, the team members must take on incident report training.

Equip your employees with the skills they need to be active participants in workplace safety.  Incident report training goes beyond basic awareness—it’s a practical series of lessons that allows your workforce to

• Get clarity on what triggers a report, ensuring nothing is ambiguous 
• Learn the essential details to include—date, time, location, description of events, witnesses—for thorough and informative reports
• Become confident in reporting incidents quickly, allowing for prompt investigation and resolution

Now, let’s dive into how to train your staff:

• Include interactive elements like role-playing scenarios, case studies, and group discussions to engage learners
• Use clear and informative visuals like presentations, diagrams, and flowcharts to enhance understanding and retention
• Use relevant real-world examples from your industry or workplace to make the training relatable and impactful
• Provide practical exercises where staff can practice documenting different types of incidents in a safe, controlled environment
• Offer refresher courses and ongoing support to ensure staff retain key concepts and best practices

With all the information and tools covered till now, you can start filing incident reports confidently!

Incident reporting isn’t about pointing fingers but learning and growing. You gain insights to prevent future occurrences and cultivate a safety culture by capturing valuable data.  

However, effective reporting requires the right tools. With ClickUp, you can easily file incident reports using the pre-built templates or the AI-powered incident report generator, monitor progress, and commit to making your workplace safe and healthy.

Sign up on ClickUp today!

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Incident Reporting Procedure: A Step-by-Step Guide

In high-risk industries like construction and manufacturing, safety is key. One crucial aspect of maintaining a safe work environment is having an effective incident reporting procedure in place. This article will provide a step-by-step guide on how to implement and follow such a procedure.

What are Incident Reports?

Incident reports are critical documents in the realm of workplace safety. They are detailed accounts that record any unusual occurrences in the workplace, such as accidents, injuries, health and safety issues, or near misses. These reports serve as an official record, providing a factual and unbiased account of what happened.

An incident report typically includes the following information:

Details of the Incident: This includes the date, time, and location of the incident, along with a comprehensive description of what happened. It’s important to record as many details as possible to provide a clear picture of the event.

People Involved: The report should list everyone involved in the incident, including witnesses. It should also detail any injuries sustained and any immediate medical treatment provided.

Cause of the Incident: If the cause of the incident is known, it should be included in the report. This could be a faulty piece of equipment, unsafe working conditions, or human error, among other things.

Follow-up Actions: The report should also document any actions taken after the incident, such as notifying supervisors, isolating the area, or implementing new safety measures.

Incident reports are not just about documenting an event after it has occurred. They are a proactive measure, designed to prevent future incidents. By analyzing these reports, companies can identify trends and patterns, pinpoint safety risks, and implement corrective actions. This makes the workplace safer for everyone and helps to foster a culture where safety is a top priority.

In essence, incident reports are a tool for learning and prevention. They help companies to learn from their mistakes, make necessary changes, and ensure that the same mistakes are not repeated in the future. They are a vital part of any effective safety management system.

Benefits of Incident Reports

Incident reports are more than just administrative paperwork. They play a crucial role in maintaining and improving workplace safety. Here are some of the key benefits of having a robust incident reporting procedure in place:

• Identifying Trends and Patterns: By regularly reviewing incident reports, companies can identify trends and patterns in safety incidents. This could include recurring issues with certain pieces of equipment, areas of the workplace that are particularly hazardous, or tasks that consistently pose a risk. Once these trends are identified, companies can take targeted action to address these specific issues.
• Preventing Future Incidents: Incident reports provide valuable insights into how and why safety incidents occur. By understanding the root causes of these incidents, companies can implement preventative measures to stop similar incidents from happening in the future. This could involve changes to work practices, additional training for employees, or improvements to workplace facilities.
• Compliance with Regulations: Many jurisdictions require businesses to keep records of workplace incidents. Having a thorough incident reporting procedure in place helps ensure compliance with these regulations. It also provides a record of the company’s commitment to safety, which can be beneficial in the event of inspections or legal proceedings.
• Promoting a Safety Culture: When employees see that their company takes incident reporting seriously, it sends a clear message that safety is a priority. This can help foster a culture of safety within the organization, where employees feel empowered to report incidents and take proactive steps to prevent them.
• Improving Communication: Incident reports can also improve communication within a company. They ensure that information about safety incidents is shared and understood at all levels of the organization. This can lead to more informed decision-making and a more coordinated approach to managing safety.
• Reducing Costs: By preventing future incidents, incident reporting can also help companies save money. The costs associated with workplace incidents can be significant, including medical expenses, lost productivity, and potential legal fees. By reducing the frequency and severity of incidents, companies can avoid these costs.

Incident reports are a vital tool for any company committed to maintaining a safe workplace. They provide a systematic way to record, analyze, and learn from safety incidents, ultimately helping to protect the well-being of employees.

Step-by-Step Procedure

Implementing an incident reporting procedure involves several key steps. Here’s a more detailed look at each step:

• Identify the Incident: The first step in any incident reporting procedure is to identify and acknowledge that an incident has occurred. This could be an accident, injury, or near miss. It’s important for all employees to understand what constitutes an incident and to be vigilant in identifying and reporting these events.
• Secure the Area: Once an incident has been identified, the immediate priority is to secure the area. This is to ensure the safety of all personnel and to prevent further incidents. This could involve evacuating the area, isolating any hazardous materials, or shutting down equipment.
• Document the Incident: As soon as it’s safe to do so, the incident should be documented. This involves recording all relevant details about the incident, including what happened, when and where it happened, who was involved, and any immediate action taken. It’s crucial to record this information as accurately and objectively as possible, as it will form the basis of the subsequent investigation.
• Investigate the Incident: The next step is to conduct a thorough investigation into the incident. This involves gathering and analyzing all available information to determine the cause of the incident. The investigation should be systematic and unbiased, and may involve interviewing witnesses, examining physical evidence, and reviewing relevant documents and records.
• Implement Corrective Actions: Based on the findings of the investigation, appropriate corrective actions should be implemented. These could range from revising safety procedures, conducting additional training, making changes to the work environment, or even disciplinary action, if necessary. The goal of these actions is to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.
• Review and Update the Incident Report: As new information becomes available or additional actions are taken, the incident report should be updated. This ensures that the report remains a complete and accurate record of the incident and the company’s response.
• Communicate the Findings: Finally, the findings of the investigation and any corrective actions should be communicated to all relevant parties. This could include employees, management, health and safety representatives, and in some cases, external bodies such as regulators or insurers. Effective communication ensures that everyone is aware of the incident, understands the lessons learned, and is committed to preventing future incidents.

Having an effective incident reporting procedure in place is crucial for maintaining a safe work environment. It allows companies to learn from incidents and implement measures to prevent them from happening again. For more information on how to choose the right incident reporting software to streamline this process, check out our article on “Choosing the Right Incident Reporting Software” (Coming Soon) .

Remember, the goal of an incident reporting procedure is not to assign blame, but to understand what happened, why it happened, and how similar incidents can be prevented in the future. It’s a crucial part of maintaining a safe and healthy workplace.

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Blog Human Resources How to Write an Effective Incident Report [Templates]

How to Write an Effective Incident Report [Templates]

Written by: Victoria Clarke Jun 13, 2023

We all do our best to ensure a happy and healthy workforce. That’s why, in a perfect world, you would never have to create an incident report.

But since incidents do happen, it’s never a bad idea to be prepared for any situation–especially the unexpected.  

Small business owners, human resources teams and workplace emergency first responders: this is the article for you! 

In this step-by-step guide, I’ll share our top tips on creating incident reports that will help you carry out effective investigations and make sure similar (or more serious) incidents don’t happen again.  I’ll also include our top incident report templates to get the job done.

Table of Contents:

• What is an incident report?

What to include in a work incident report?

• How to write an incident report?
• Incident report examples, templates and design tips
• Simple incident report template
• COVID-19 employee incident report templates

All of the templates in this post can be customized using our easy online  incident report maker  tool. It’s free to sign up, many of our templates are free to use too.

What is an incident report? 

An incident report is a form to document all workplace illnesses, injuries, near misses and accidents. An incident report should be completed at the time an incident occurs no matter how minor an injury is.

Here’s one example:

Any illness or injury that impacts an employee’s ability to work must be noted. The specifics of what is required by law to be included in an incident report will vary depending on the federal or provincial legislation that affects your workplace.

If you’re unsure, you can take a look at your government’s website for more details. In certain cases, there are exceptions that can exempt small businesses from complying with such legislation. 

A well-structured incident report typically includes the following five key elements:

• Date, time and location: Provide specific details about when and where the incident occurred. This helps establish a timeline and context for understanding the event.
• Description of the incident: Clearly describe what happened, including relevant details such as the sequence of events, the people involved and any contributing factors. Use objective language and avoid assumptions or opinions.
• Witness information: Include names and contact information for any witnesses to the incident. Their accounts can provide valuable perspectives and corroborate details.
• Action taken: Outline any immediate actions taken to address the incident, such as first aid, evacuation procedures or contacting emergency services. Documenting these responses is crucial for understanding the effectiveness of the initial response.
• Recommendations for prevention: Offer suggestions on how similar incidents can be prevented in the future. This proactive approach demonstrates a commitment to improving safety and mitigating risks.

How to write an incident report ?

It’s important to establish a systematic method for investigating incidents.  

It’s also equally important to have a report prepared that enables you to record every relevant aspect of the incident details–this is the essential first step in the incident reporting process.  

After you’ve created your incident report form, you can: 

• Begin your investigation with fact-finding 
• And end your investigation with determining recommendations for preventing both an increase in the severity of the incident and the possibility of a recurrence.  

To write any incident case reports, follow the basic format described below.

1. Take immediate action 

Employees of your organization should notify their manager or another member of the company’s leadership committee as soon as an incident occurs–regardless of the nature of the event (whether it be an accident, illness, injury or near miss).  

That being said, there need to be communication channels clearly defined to promote the practice of employees coming forward in these situations and the importance of such.

Once an incident has been reported, the member of leadership’s first responsibility is to ensure that appropriate treatment, if necessary, is being administered to those affected by the event.  

On this note: if the hazard still exists, the manager that the event has been reported to must eliminate the hazard by controlling it. Each company should have a defined procedure for accomplishing this based on the nature of their work. 

For example, if there was a spill that caused a fall. You would attend to the victim and promptly have the spill wiped up and identify the area as a hazard by using a sign.

2. Collect the facts 

Once the immediate action including the response to the event and eliminating the hazard from the environment has been conducted, it’s time to determine and record the facts related to the incident details. 

9 facts related to the incident include: 

1. the basics.

Identify the specific location, time and date of the incident. This information is fundamental to the investigation and the most obvious information to collect. 

2. The affected

Collect details of those involved and/or affected by the incident. This would entail recording the name(s) of the individual(s) involved, their job title(s), the department(s) they operate in the manager(s) of those affected. 

3. The witnesses

Speak to any witnesses of the event to collect their perspectives of the event. Record their statements as detailed and accurate as possible in the form.  

To ensure accuracy, it’s best practice to review your notes with the witness to ensure they agree with how the event is portrayed in the report. It’s also important to include the name(s) of any witnesses in the report in case any additional questioning is required. 

4. The context

Consider and document the events that occurred leading up to the incident. Ask:

• What was the employee doing? 
• Who asked them to complete the task? How was the employee feeling prior to the incident? …etc. 

It is important to identify which factors were an outcome of the incident and which factors were present prior to the incident and could be a potential contributing factor to the incident occurring.

5. The actions

In the report, you must specify the actions of those involved at the time of the incident. What did the employee do that led to the incident? 

For example, if an employee injured their back when lifting a box at work, it is important to determine how that employee lifted the box to decide if that contributed to the injury. If yes, then inquire if this employee was trained properly for this task and by who or what source.  

6. The environment

Identify and record environmental conditions that contributed to the event. Was there inadequate lighting? Was a piece of equipment not operating properly? Was the employees’ visibility obstructed by a glare or blind spot? Etc. 

7. The injuries

Record detailed descriptions of specific injuries and evaluate the severity of such in the report. This description should include part(s) of the body injured, nature and extent of injuries. 

8. The treatment

It is also important to document in the incident case report the type of treatment administered for the acknowledged injuries. This information is important to document in order to understand how the employee recovers when reviewing the specifics of the event.

9. The damages

Record an account of any damage to equipment, materials, etc that was affected by the incident. This will be helpful to refer back during the analysis of the event in order to consider both a corrective action plan and to determine what items will need to be repaired or replaced. 

3. Analyze and reflect  

Collecting and recording the facts related to the occurrence of the incident will aid in determining how the incident occurred. Analyzing the collected facts related to the incident will aid in determining why the incident occurred. 

Analyzing and determining how and why the incident occurred is essential in order to develop an effective corrective action plan. 

Potential causes for accidents or injuries that occurred in the workplace could include: 

• Primary causes (for example, an unsalted ice patch on a set of stairs that caused a slip and fall). 
• Secondary causes (for example, an employee not wearing appropriate personal protective equipment, such as a hard helmet or eyewear).
• Other contributing causes (for example: a burned-out light bulb in the area causing poor visibility). 

4. Establish a corrective action plan 

A corrective action plan would provide recommendations as a means to reduce the possibility of a continued issue and/or recurrence of the incident details. The recommendations would result from an effective analysis of the facts collected and documented in the incident report. 

Elements of an effective corrective action plan could include: 

• Occupational Health & Safety training for employees 
• Preventative routine maintenance processes that ensure equipment is in proper working condition 
• A review of job practices and procedures with a recommendation for changes to reduce the risk of incidents 
• Conducting a job hazard analysis to determine if other potential hazards are associated with the task and/or environment and then training employees on these hazards based on the findings of the assessment 
• Engineering, equipment or PPE changes/upgrades to ensure the task or the process of completing said task poses less risk

Incident report examples and design tips

Here are some examples of types of incident reports to help you get started. I’ve also included some report design tips to help you present your information effectively. If you want to dig a bit deeper into the topic , here’s a comprehensive guide to general report design that I find handy.

Incorporate your branding into your report design

As with any document you create for your business, it’s good practice to incorporate your branding into your incident reports. (Psst– Venngage’s Brand Kit feature makes it easy to add your branding in just a click!) 

Include your brand colors in your design. You can do this by using them in the report header, footer, sidebar and in any visuals. 

You could use your brand colors in the background of your incident report:

You may also want to include your logo, like in this incident report template : 

Organize your information into sections using boxes

To make your information as readable as possible, organize it into sections. One of the easiest ways to do this is by using boxes.

For example, take a look at how these types of incident report templates use boxes to section off the information:

This type of incident report example also uses rectangles to denote section headers:

Color code the sections of your incident case report

Colors aren’t just great for making your reports , presentations and charts more interesting to look at. You can also use color to organize sections of your report and to draw attention to key information. 

For more tips on using color in your designs, read our guide on how to pick colors to communicate effectively .

Add a visual header to your incident report

As part of your company branding, you may want to add a visual header to your reports. For example, this incident case report template uses a neutral photo with a color filter to create a professional header:

You can do this in Venngage by overlaying a photo on a color background and adjusting the opacity of the photo: 

You can use the same effect for sidebars as well: 

Make a mock form to offer new team members as an example

If you’re transitioning in staff or something happens when the individual who owns incident reports is away, it’s very important that there is a process documented . That will ensure that if someone is put on the spot, they can fill in the incident report properly.

It can also be helpful to add brief descriptions of the information in the type of incident report to include in each field. Take a look at how this incident report example offers some brief text to guide the person filling it out:

Use icons to visualize concepts

Icons are small, compact visuals that can be used to reinforce the information in your reports. You can also use them to draw attention to specific fields and important pieces of information. 

For example, this incident case report template uses icons to indicate the purpose of each field:

Incident report examples

Covid-19 employee incident report template.

Blue healthcare employee critical incident report template

Although being prepared for the unexpected is often difficult, preventative measures are the cornerstone of maintaining a happy and healthy working environment for yourself and your workforce.  

Incident reports are not only a defining piece in any company’s incident response protocol, but they provide a means to avoid recurring mishaps and/or inspire change. 

That’s why it is crucial to have a relevant and comprehensive incident report form prepared and on hand for any incident details that may arise. By adhering to your jurisdiction’s legislation and considering the four components prescribed above, you’ll be well-prepared to handle incidents effectively.

The effect of responding to workplace incidents in a timely and detail-oriented manner will not only ensure a safe workplace but also: 

• Reassure your employees that their employer is prepared to take the right steps in any situation 
• Ensure all appropriate parties are fully informed of incidents 
• Establish a record of incidents for future reference 
• Protect both you/your company and your employees from lawsuits and disputes

FAQs about incident reports

What is the purpose of incident reporting.

An incident report is used to describe an event that requires an investigation that needs to be documented.

Types of incident reports

• Accident Reports
• Workplace Incident Report

What are the 4 types of incidents?

Commonly, incidents can be categorized into four main types:

• Accidents: Involving unintended harm, damage or injury.
• Near Misses: Situations where an accident could have occurred but was narrowly avoided.
• Unsafe Conditions: Reports about hazardous or unsafe environments that need attention.
• Unsafe Acts: Documenting incidents involving violations of safety procedures or rules.

Incident reports generally cover a variety of situations and the specific types may vary based on context and industry. It’s important to note that these categories can overlap and the classification may differ depending on the reporting system or industry standards.

More HR guides and templates:

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• 17 Essential Human Resources Poster Templates

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How to Write an Incident Report: Format, Examples & Tips

Last Updated: April 19, 2024 Fact Checked

Incident Report Template and Example

Following protocol, describing what happened, polishing the report.

This article was co-authored by Clinton M. Sandvick, JD, PhD . Clinton M. Sandvick worked as a civil litigator in California for over 7 years. He received his JD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1998 and his PhD in American History from the University of Oregon in 2013. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 1,250,977 times.

If you're a security guard or police officer deployed to the scene of an incident, writing up a detailed and accurate report is an important part of doing your job correctly. A good incident report gives a thorough account of what happened without glossing over unsavory information or leaving out important facts. It's crucial to follow the appropriate protocol, describe the incident clearly, and submit a polished report.

How do you write an incident report?

Note the time, date, and location of the incident on the form. Include your full name and ID number, as well. Write a first person narrative explaining what happened at the scene, be honest, clear, and concise as you go. Then, proofread your incident report and revise any mistakes before submitting it.

• Follow any instructions that accompany the forms. Each organization uses a different format, so pay attention to the guidelines.
• In some cases you're responsible for filling out a form issued by your institution. In other cases you'll be asked to type or write up the report on your own.

Tip: If possible, do your write up using word processing software. It will look neater, and you'll be able to use spell check to polish it when you're finished. If you write your report by hand, print clearly instead of using cursive. Don't leave people guessing whether your 7s are actually 1s.

• The time, date and location of the incident (be specific; write the exact street address, etc.).
• Your name and ID number.
• Names of other members of your organization who were present

• For example, you could write that you were called to a certain address after a person was reported for being drunk and disorderly.
• Note that you should not write what you think might have happened. Stick to the facts, and be objective.

• Use the full names of each person included in the report. Identify all persons the first time they are cited in your report by listing: first, middle, and last names; date of birth, race, gender, and reference a government issued identification number. In subsequent sentences, you can then refer to them using just their first and last names: "Doe, John" or "John Doe". Start a new paragraph to describe each person's actions separately. Answer the who, what, when, where, and why of what happened.
• For example, when the police officer mentioned above arrives at the residence where he got the call, he could say: "Upon arrival the officer observed a male white, now known as Doe, John Edwin; date of birth: 03/15/1998; California Driver's License 00789142536, screaming and yelling at a female white,know known as, Doe, Jane, in the front lawn of the above location (the address given earlier). The officer separated both parties involved and conducted field interviews. The officer was told by Mr. John Doe that he had came home from work and discovered that dinner was not made for him. He then stated that he became upset at his wife Mrs. Jane Doe for not having the dinner ready for him."
• If possible, make sure to include direct quotes from witnesses and other people involved in the incident. For example, in the above scenario, the officer could write “Jane said to me ‘Johnny was mad because I didn’t have dinner ready right on time.'”
• Include an accurate description of your own role in the course of what occurred. If you had to use physical force to detain someone, don't gloss over it. Report how you handled the situation and its aftermath.

• For example, instead of saying “when I arrived, his face was red,” you could say, “when I arrived, he was yelling, out of breath, and his face was red with anger.” The second example is better than the first because there are multiple reasons for someone’s face to be red, not just that they are angry.
• Or, instead of saying “after I arrived at the scene, he charged towards me,” you should say “when I arrived at the scene I demanded that both parties stop fighting. After taking a breath and looking at me, he began to run quickly towards me and held his hand up like he was about to strike me.”

• For example, if a witness told you he saw someone leap over a fence and run away, clearly indicate that your report of the incident was based upon a witness account; it is not yet a proven fact.
• Additionally, if you are reporting what the witness told you, you should write down anything that you remember about the witness's demeanor. If their statement's cause controversy later, your report can prove useful. For example, it would be helpful to know that a witness appeared excited while telling you what happened, or if they seemed very calm and evenhanded.

• Keep your writing clear and concise.
• Additionally, do not use legal or technical words: For example, say “personal vehicle” instead of “P.O.V.” (personally owned vehicle), and “scene of the crime” instead of the typical numbered code that police typically use to notify others of their arrival.
• Use short, to-the-point sentences that emphasize facts and that don't leave room for interpretation. Instead of writing "I think the suspect wanted to get back at his wife, because he seemed to have ill intentions when he walked up to her and grabbed her," write "The suspect [insert name] walked over to his wife [name] and forcefully grabbed her by the wrist."

• Do not try to make sure that statements in your report match those of your colleagues. Individually filed reports guarantee that more than one account of an incident survives. Incident reports can appear later in a court of law. If you alter the facts of your report to match those of another, you can be penalized.

• Check it one more time for spelling and grammar errors.
• Remove any words that could be seen as subjective or judgmental, like words describing feelings and emotions.

Expert Q&A

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/work-incident-report
• ↑ https://www.csus.edu/campus-safety/police-department/_internal/_documents/rwm.pdf
• ↑ https://www.nfic.org/docs/WrittingEffectiveIncidentReports.pdf
• ↑ https://openoregon.pressbooks.pub/ctetechwriting/chapter/accident-and-incident-reports/
• ↑ https://oer.pressbooks.pub/opentrailstechnicalwriting/chapter/writing-incident-reports/

About This Article

If you need to write an incident report, start writing down the basic facts you need to remember as soon as possible, so you don’t start to forget details. Include the time, date, and location of the incident, as well as your name and work ID number and the names of anyone else who was present. Start by describing the general nature of the incident, then write out a detailed, first-person account of what happened. Include as many details as you can. Keep reading for tips on editing and polishing your report. Did this summary help you? Yes No

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The Incident Reporting Guide

Everything you need to know about effective workplace incident reporting..

Whether you’re an employee seeking guidance on reporting an incident or a manager looking to enhance your understanding of the reporting process, this guide offers valuable insights and practical tips to navigate the complexities of workplace incidents.

Download your copy today!

What is the Incident Reporting Guide?

The Incident Reporting Guide is a valuable resource that helps organizations effectively manage and respond to workplace incidents. Whether it’s an injury, near-miss, property damage, or any other type of incident, our comprehensive guide provides step-by-step instructions and best practices to ensure that incidents are properly documented, reported, and investigated. By utilizing this guide, you can enhance workplace safety, identify trends, and implement preventive measures to protect your employees and organization.

How to use the Incident Reporting Guide?

Our user-friendly Incident Reporting Guide is designed to simplify the process of reporting workplace incidents. It offers clear guidance on how to document and report incidents, ensuring that all relevant details are captured accurately. Here’s a glimpse of what you can expect from this guide:

• Introduction: Familiarize yourself with the importance of incident reporting and its role in creating a safer work environment. Understand the potential benefits and outcomes of effective incident reporting practices.
• Incident Reporting Process: Learn about the key steps involved in incident reporting, including immediate response, documentation, investigation, analysis, and corrective actions. Gain insights into the critical components of each stage to facilitate a thorough reporting process.
• Incident Documentation: Discover the essential information that should be recorded when documenting an incident. Understand the importance of capturing incident details, such as date, time, location, individuals involved, witnesses, and a comprehensive description of what transpired.
• Reporting Channels: Explore different reporting channels and mechanisms available within your organization, such as online reporting forms, incident reporting software, or designated personnel responsible for receiving incident reports. Understand the advantages and considerations associated with each option.
• Investigation Techniques: Acquire knowledge on conducting effective incident investigations. Learn how to gather evidence, interview witnesses, analyze root causes, and generate actionable recommendations to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.

Accidents are more serious than incidents. An accident is an unforeseen occurrence that causes severe injury or harm. However, an incident is any unpredicted incident that does not cause major losses or harm.

Among the most prevalent types of incident reports are safety incident reports, which involve harm or mishap.

Unexpected occurrences or circumstances that cause or can cause harm, illness, or damage are reportable incidents.

Utilizing Our Incident Reporting Solution

Gathering information.

SafetyIQ allows everyone to easily share what's happening around them.

Whether it's your workers completing their alertness test as they arrive on site, a field worker reporting a near miss, a mobile worker filling out a journey management plan, or your factory floor inspecting the equipment. All of these pieces of information are easily collated in a central platform with our safety software.

Seeing the Big Picture

SafetyIQ provides complete visibility over your safety processes.

Whether it's tracking the process of training, audits or inspections, viewing your mobile and lone workforce on the User Activity Map, or uncovering incident trends or hazard hotspots.

SafetyIQ gives you a bird's eye view.

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You don't need to be tech-savvy to make SafetyIQ work for you.

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Incident Report Writing: A Comprehensive Guide

What is an incident report.

An incident report is a document that records details about an unexpected event that occurs within an organization. This could be an accident, injury, security breach, or any other type of incident that deviates from normal operations and leads to loss of production, assets, or reputation.

An incident report form or letter typically includes information about what happened, when and where it occurred, who was involved, and any actions taken in response to the incident. It’s used to document the facts, facilitate an investigation, and develop strategies to prevent similar incidents in the future.

Types of Incident Reports in Various Industries

Incident reports can vary widely across different industries, reflecting each sector’s unique risks and requirements. Here are some incident report examples according to industry:

Construction

Workplace injuries , equipment malfunctions, safety violations, and environmental incidents are all types of incidents that can occur in a workplace.

Medical errors, such as wrong medication or dose, patient falls , equipment malfunctions, and data security breaches that compromise patient information, are all critical safety concerns that must be addressed to ensure a safe healthcare environment.

Manufacturing

Machine breakdowns, quality control issues, workplace accidents, and chemical spills are common problems that can occur in a workplace.

Information Technology

Data breaches, system outages, unauthorized access, and software bugs are all potential cybersecurity threats that can compromise the security and integrity of computer systems, networks, and sensitive information.

Transportation

Vehicle accidents , cargo damage, safety non-compliance, and environmental spills.

Bullying, injuries occurring on school premises, security threats, and data privacy breaches.

Hospitality

Foodborne illnesses, guest injuries, security breaches, and property damage are all adverse events and potential issues.

Each industry will define specific protocols for incident reporting to address different types of workplace incidents .

Why is an Incident Report Important?

Incident reports are important because they provide a detailed account of unexpected events that occur within a company or organization. These reports help in identifying the root causes of incidents, ensuring accountability, and facilitating the development of strategies to prevent future occurrences.

They are also crucial for compliance with legal and safety regulations, and they can be used as documentation for audits, investigations, or legal proceedings. Proper incident reporting helps maintain a safe and healthy working environment by enabling organizations to learn from past incidents and improve their risk management practices.

What Should Be Included in an Incident Report?

A good incident report should include the following details:

Date and Time

It is essential to record the precise date and time of the incident. This information can be crucial for future reference and analysis and may also assist in identifying any patterns or trends that could inform preventative measures. Therefore, please be as specific as possible when recording the date and time of the incident.

Be as specific as possible. Include the exact address of the location and the specific area within the building or property where the incident happened.

Personal Details

Include the names and positions of those involved, including witnesses.

Incident Description

Provide a detailed and comprehensive description of the incident. This should include any contextual information, such as the time and location of the incident, any individuals involved, the sequence of events leading up to the incident, and any relevant details regarding the aftermath, such as any damages or injuries sustained. Ensure that your description is clear, concise, and accurate, and that it provides a complete picture of the incident in question.

Injuries or Damage

It is important to thoroughly document any injuries sustained by individuals involved, as well as any damage to property or equipment. This documentation should include detailed descriptions of the injuries and damages, as well as photographs or video footage if possible. It is also recommended to gather contact information from any witnesses who may have observed the incident.

Actions Taken

Provide a detailed account of the steps taken immediately after the incident occurred. This should include any first aid administered or involvement of emergency services such as medical personnel or law enforcement. Include any relevant details, such as the time of the incident, the location, and the individuals involved.

Reported By

The information required in this field is the full name of the individual who is completing the report, as well as their signature. It is important to ensure that both pieces of information are accurate and legible to ensure that the report is properly documented and filed. Providing a clear and complete name and signature will also help verify the authenticity of the report and the individual who submitted it.

Follow-Up Actions

When outlining any follow-up actions that are planned or required, it’s important to be as detailed as possible. This might include listing specific repairs or maintenance tasks that need to be completed and any necessary policy changes or updates. It’s also important to assign responsibility for each action item and set clear deadlines for completion. By being thorough and specific in your follow-up plan, you can ensure that all necessary steps are taken to address the issue at hand and prevent similar problems from arising in the future.

Remember to keep the report factual, objective, and free from personal opinions or assumptions.

Analysis and Techniques Used in an Incident Report

When conducting an analysis for incident reporting, it is important to use a systematic approach. Common types of analysis include:

1. Root Cause Analysis (RCA)

Root Cause Analysis (RCA) is a methodical approach used to identify the underlying reasons for a problem or incident. The goal of RCA is to find the primary cause of an issue so that you can address it and prevent recurrence. It involves collecting data, analyzing it, and determining the root causes.

2. Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA)

Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) is a systematic, step-by-step approach for identifying all possible failures in a design, a manufacturing or assembly process, or a product or service. It is used to determine the impact of different types of failures, to classify the severity of the failures, and to identify actions that could eliminate or reduce the chance of the potential failure occurring. FMEA also helps to prioritize which actions should be taken to prevent future failures. If you need a detailed document or task on this topic, you might consider creating one in your workspace.

The “5 Whys” is a problem-solving technique that involves asking “Why?” five times (or as many times as needed) to drill down to the root cause of a particular problem. By repeatedly asking why a problem occurs, you can peel away the layers of symptoms and get to the core issue. This method is straightforward to use without statistical analysis. The goal is to determine a cause-and-effect relationship between the issues that contribute to the main problem.

4. Barrier Analysis

A method used in safety management and risk assessment to identify and evaluate obstacles that prevent potential risks and hazards from leading to incidents. It involves analyzing the controls and barriers that are in place to protect against failures and determining if they are adequate. If you need to perform a barrier analysis or create documentation on it, you might consider outlining the process, controls, and barriers related to specific risks in your projects or operations within a new document in your workspace. This analysis is looking at the controls that failed to prevent the incident.

5. Change Analysis

Change analysis is a process used to understand the changes that have occurred in a system or process and to evaluate the impact of those changes. It typically involves comparing the current state with a previous state to identify differences and potential effects. If you need to perform a change analysis, consider documenting the before-and-after states of the system or process, the changes made, and the observed impacts within a new document in your workspace. This analysis technique examines what was different or changed that could have led to the incident.

These analytical methods help in understanding the underlying reasons for the incident and in developing effective preventive measures.

How to Write an Incident Report?

To prepare a full incident report from A to Z in detail, follow these steps:

1. Immediate Response

As soon as the incident occurs, ensure that the area is safe and provide immediate assistance to any injured parties.

2. Notification

Inform the relevant authorities or supervisors about the incident as per company policy.

3. Documentation

Collect all necessary information regarding the incident. This includes the date, time, location, incident description, witnesses’ names and accounts, and any immediate actions taken.

4. Analysis

Conduct a thorough analysis of the incident to determine the root cause. This could involve methods such as Root Cause Analysis (RCA) or the 5 Whys technique.

5. Report Writing

Compile the information into a structured document. Start with an executive summary, followed by a detailed account of the incident, analysis, and any supporting evidence like photos or witness statements.

6. Action Plan

Develop a plan to address the root causes and prevent recurrence. This should include corrective actions and any changes to policies or procedures.

7. Review and Approval

Have the report reviewed by the relevant parties for accuracy and completeness. Make any necessary revisions.

8. Distribution

Distribute the report to all stakeholders, including management, affected employees, and, if necessary, external parties like regulatory agencies.

9. Follow-Up

Implement the action plan and monitor its effectiveness over time. Adjust the plan as needed based on feedback and further observations.

10. Record Keeping

Store the incident report securely for future reference and legal compliance, and to inform safety improvements.

Remember to maintain confidentiality and comply with all legal and regulatory requirements throughout the process.

An incident report is a formal documentation of the facts related to an unexpected event in the workplace or another environment. These reports vary across industries, including healthcare, construction , IT and manufacturing, reflecting specific risks and compliance requirements in each sector.

Reporting incidents is crucial for identifying hazards, preventing future occurrences, and ensuring legal and regulatory compliance. When reporting, it’s important to consider the accuracy and completeness of the information.

To write an effective incident report, one should gather all relevant information, describe the incident clearly and objectively, analyze the causes, and suggest preventive measures.

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• Incident Reporting

10 Key Elements of an Effective Incident Report

• May 22, 2024
• Ben Johnson

A robust incident reporting system is crucial for effective safety management. Good incident reports help identify hazards, prevent future incidents, and ensure compliance. They provide a clear and concise account of incidents, enabling timely investigations and corrective actions.

Including comprehensive details such as what happened, where it occurred, and who was involved is essential for understanding and addressing root causes. Timely and accurate reports facilitate immediate responses and long-term safety improvements. Ultimately, well-structured incident reports contribute to a safer workplace by promoting transparency, accountability, and continuous learning from past events.

Let’s explore the key elements that make an incident report effective and reliable.

1. Clear and Concise Reporting

Accurate and straightforward reporting is the cornerstone of an effective incident report. Start with a detailed description of the incident. Clearly explain what happened, where it happened, and who was involved. This sets the stage for understanding the event fully.

Clarity is key. Use simple, direct language that avoids jargon. The goal is to make the report understandable for anyone who reads it, regardless of their technical background.

Brevity is equally important. Keep the information concise, focusing on the essential details. Avoid unnecessary elaboration that can obscure the main points. A well-written, clear, and concise report ensures that critical information is communicated effectively, aiding in swift and accurate decision-making.

2. Timeliness

Prompt reporting is vital in incident management . The sooner an incident is reported, the quicker an investigation can commence. This immediacy helps in capturing accurate details and prevents the situation from worsening.

Including precise date and time stamps is crucial. This information helps in tracking the sequence of events and can be critical during an investigation. Timely reports also allow for immediate corrective actions, which can mitigate further risks and damages.

Encouraging a culture of prompt reporting within the organization ensures that incidents are not overlooked or forgotten. This proactive approach enhances overall safety and responsiveness.

3. Comprehensive Details

A good incident report provides a complete picture of the event. Start by classifying the incident type—whether it’s an accident, near-miss, or observation. This helps in understanding the nature and severity of the incident.

Detail the environmental conditions at the time. Factors like weather, lighting, and location can provide important context. Describe any injuries sustained and damages to property or equipment, as these are crucial for assessing the incident’s impact.

Comprehensive details enable a thorough investigation and help in identifying all contributing factors. This depth of information is essential for developing effective preventive measures.

4. Root Cause Analysis

Understanding the root cause of an incident is key to preventing its recurrence. Begin with any immediate observations that might indicate the cause. These initial insights can guide the direction of the investigation.

Summarize the findings from a detailed root cause analysis . Identifying underlying issues, rather than just surface problems, is crucial. This thorough approach ensures that corrective measures address the actual causes of the incident.

Root cause analysis is a critical component in learning from incidents and improving safety protocols. It transforms incidents into opportunities for systemic improvements.

5. Corrective and Preventive Actions (CAPA)

Documenting corrective and preventive actions is essential. Start with any immediate actions taken to mitigate the incident’s impact. These actions show the organization’s responsiveness.

Outline long-term solutions to prevent similar incidents in the future. This includes changes to processes, training, or equipment. Clearly assign responsibilities for implementing each action to ensure accountability.

CAPA not only addresses the current incident but also strengthens overall safety practices . Effective CAPA leads to a safer work environment by preventing the recurrence of similar incidents.

6. Witness Statements

Witness accounts provide additional perspectives on the incident. Include detailed statements from all witnesses to capture diverse viewpoints.

Ensure you gather contact information for witnesses. This allows for follow-up questions if further clarification is needed. Witness statements can offer crucial insights that might not be immediately apparent.

Including these accounts enriches the incident report and helps build a more complete understanding of the event. Witnesses can often provide details that fill in gaps or highlight overlooked aspects.

7. Supporting Evidence

Supporting evidence strengthens the incident report. Attach photographs, videos, and any other visual evidence that can provide a clearer understanding of the incident.

Include relevant documents and logs. These might be maintenance records, safety logs, or any other pertinent documentation. This evidence can substantiate the report and aid in the investigation.

Strong supporting evidence ensures the report is thorough and credible. It helps investigators and reviewers understand the incident more clearly and supports accurate conclusions.

8. Review and Approval

A structured review process ensures the report’s accuracy and completeness. Detail how the report will be reviewed and by whom. This step adds an essential layer of scrutiny.

Management sign-off is crucial. It shows that the report has been vetted at a high level and that appropriate oversight has been applied. This step also ensures that the necessary authority is aware of the incident.

The review and approval process adds credibility to the report. It ensures that all necessary information has been included and that the report is ready for use in safety improvements.

9. Follow-up Actions

Monitoring the implementation of corrective actions is essential. Detail how these actions will be tracked to ensure they are completed.

Explain how the effectiveness of these actions will be verified. This step ensures that the measures taken are actually preventing similar incidents from occurring.

Regular follow-up demonstrates a commitment to continuous improvement. It ensures that corrective actions are not just implemented but are also effective in enhancing safety.

10. Lessons Learned

Documenting lessons learned from incidents is invaluable. This process helps create a knowledge repository that can be used to improve future safety practices.

Discuss how these lessons will be shared with employees and integrated into training programs. Effective communication of lessons learned ensures that the entire organization benefits from the insights gained.

Learning from past incidents is a proactive approach to safety. It helps in preventing future incidents and fosters a culture of continuous improvement and learning.

Download free lessons learned report template .

Safetymint for Efficient Incident Reporting

Safetymint transforms the way organizations handle incident reporting , making it easier and more efficient than ever. With our cloud-based safety management software , you can streamline your entire safety process using intuitive web and mobile applications.

Safetymint enables anyone in your organization to report incidents, observations , and near-misses quickly and effectively. The user-friendly interface ensures that reports are clear and concise, while the integrated dashboard and statistics section provide powerful data analytics to help you track trends and make informed decisions.

Safetymint’s features include real-time notifications and alerts, ensuring prompt responses to reported incidents and assigned actions. Custom workflows and digital signatures facilitate seamless approvals, while our comprehensive 5-step incident investigation process, including Root Cause Analysis and Corrective and Preventive Actions (CAPA), ensures thorough and effective resolutions.

The system’s “Lessons Learned” feature creates a valuable knowledge repository, helping your team learn from past incidents and continuously improve safety practices. Whether deployed on the cloud or on-premise, Safetymint is customizable to meet your organization’s specific needs.

Try Safetymint today and empower your organization to create a safer, more compliant workplace.

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Ben Johnson is a dedicated Customer Success Executive at Safetymint. With a strong commitment to excellence, Ben works closely with customers to ensure they fully leverage the capabilities of Safetymint to its fullest potential, aiming to significantly reduce or mitigate safety risks and incidents.

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7 essential elements of an incident report, and a free guide.

Aug 24, 2022

Incident reports are crucial to establishing safety for employees as well as establishing best practices in the workplace. Properly documenting incidents helps identify dangers in the work environment and avoid situations that could potentially endanger people. 

Most importantly, a well-written incident report can help ensure that your company is compliant with governmental labor regulations and standards. Every company has unique guidelines when filing incident reports. How one organization operates on a day-to-day basis is most likely different from how your company operates. You don’t have to copy their exact format or template. Instead, come up with a guideline that reflect your company's systems and procedures. But the structure and the essential inclusions are just the same.

Start establishing best practices now with our Incident Report and Investigation Guide!

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Basic incident information.

The incident report must be factual and complete. It should include:

• the  names  and  positions  of the people involved
• the names of any  witnesses
• the  exact   location  and/or address of the incident
• the exact time and date of the  occurrence
• a  detailed  and  clear  description of what exactly happened
• a description of the  injuries

As no information can be left out, it’s crucial to start writing the report as soon as possible. The longer you wait, the more difficult it can be to accurately document the details of the incident.  It’s best to do the write-up when everyone’s memory of the incident is still fresh. 

With Safety Evolution safety management software, workers are guided as they complete their event report by interview-style questions. As they toggle on answers to questions such as "were there any witnesses? more in-depth questions are asked to ensure a full report. Incident Reporters can capture date, time, location, witness statements, property damage, environmental damage, weather factors, work permits, scene changes, and more. Link Injuries to the body part(s) and upload relevant photos and documents. Learn more with our Incident Reporting & Investigation System.

The document must be accurate and free of grammatical or spelling errors. Ideally, there shouldn’t be any corrections—especially if it is handwritten. If any corrections must be made, every deleted or added word may need to be initialed by the witnesses. The last thing you want is for the report to be interpretable in different ways. Read the report multiple times and look for any gaps that need to be filled in. Is there a missing part of the story? Could any piece of the story be further clarified? Remember to include not only the actual incident but the events that took place before and after as well.

Objectivity

Avoid using emotional words and statements that describe feelings. The report must be factual and be free of sarcasm, condescending statements, and judgmental remarks. The person in charge of the written reporting is expected to rely purely on facts, able to detect and avoid personal biases and opinions. For that to happen, he or she must not allow earlier or external information to influence the report.

Incident Legal Considerations

Remember that these are legal documents that may be utilized by police and courts to investigate the incident. It should clearly state if it is about any of the following:

• Physical injury
• Property destruction
• Work-related accidents
• Theft or robbery
• Aggressive behavior
• Serious illness
• Imminent death
• Illegal and criminal acts
• Disruptive situations

If you’re not sure whether a report is necessary, consider the wisdom of “better safe than sorry.”. If the incident is extreme, it may be good to immediately call the police. Finally, always check with your country's labor regulations to ensure that your company is fully compliant.

Cause of Incident

If the exact cause of the incident remains undetermined after the initial investigation, it is okay to share hypotheses as long as they are clearly identified that way in the report. Include statements of witnesses, sketches, and photos whenever possible. If available, security footage should be referenced as well.

Supervisor Signature

The completed report must be signed by the supervisor or manager in charge at the time of the incident. As the authorized signatory, he or she must read the report and ensure that it is clear, legible, and accurate and that the company guidelines for incident reporting have been strictly followed.

Confidentiality

Because reports almost always include sensitive and confidential information, such as an employee’s health concerns, incident reporting must be done with the involved parties’ privacy in mind. Only authorized personnel should be able to review the report details.

Best Practices for Filling Out Incident Report Forms

Every company must have a protocol for incident reporting. Only people of authority should be given access to this document. They can use it for documentation of unfortunate events, management of risks, and creation of safety measures as mandated by the law. The following best practices should be observed when filling up the form:

• Practice a sense of urgency. Fill out the report form and file it within 24 hours.
• Include small details and all pertinent data.
• The supervisor should verify the information in the report.
• Only the person that is directly involved in the incident can fill out the form.
• Be thorough and avoid making corrections.
• Don't assume that the reader will understand general statements.
• Keep it confidential and don't let unauthorized individuals read the information.
• Sign the document when done.
• Inform the police or healthcare professionals when necessary.

Every employee of your company should undergo a  seminar or training with regard to handling an incident at work . In this way, they will know how to report an incident when something happens. Finally, going paperless can help you avoid losing crucial documents. Digital tools, like the free guide below, are a great alternative to old-fashioned paperwork.

Get Your Free Incident Report Template & Investigation Guide

Start establishing best practices now! Learn how to properly document incidents to help identify dangers in the work environment and avoid situations that could potentially endanger people.

Other helpful articles to help with Incident Management:

Incident vs Accidents: Difference & Why You Should Investigate!

How is TRIR Calculated?

OSHA TRIR Calculation

What is an EMR Rating or Experience Modification Rate?

How to Improve Safety Culture: Near Miss Analyses

Calculate Your OSHA Dart Rate!

Learn from Incidents: Capture the Scene & Root Cause

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How to Write a Workplace Incident Report (+ Templates)

Written by: Hailey Hudson

From simple falls to hazardous energy to machinery malfunctions, workplace incidents are more common than you might think. In some cases, consequences might be simple, such as a break in productivity. But other times, incidents could have outcomes that are as severe as death.

If an incident occurs in your workplace, it’s your responsibility to write up a workplace incident report that documents the issue. Incident reports are important because they allow company leadership to take corrective action and ensure all employees are safe and efficient moving forward.

You can use an incident report template from Visme to create a professional, branded report that includes the need-to-know information and makes it easy for incident witnesses to file the document. Let’s jump into why incident reports are so important and how to write your own.

Table of Contents

What is an incident report.

• 3 Benefits of Incident Reporting in the Workplace

How to Write a Workplace Incident Report in 4 Steps

10 incident report templates you can download now.

An incident report is a document that explains the details involved in a workplace incident, which is defined as any unexpected event that results in property damage or minor injury. Examples of workplace incidents include:

• An accident
• A near miss (a situation that could have resulted in an injury)
• Anything that violates company policy, affects workplace operations, or poses significant risks to the safety of employees or guests

Incident reports include all of the facts related to the incident, such as the contact information of the people involved; a description of the incident itself; and any follow-up actions that were taken, like medical treatment. These reports are important because they help create a safer workplace where all employees will be better protected.

Any employee that witnesses an incident can file a report. The incident needs to be reported as soon as possible — ideally, within less than 24 hours.

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3 Benefits of Incident Reporting in a Workplace

There are several advantages of creating incident reports in your workplace:

1. Provides Necessary Consequences

In some cases, an incident may require consequences to an employee who engaged in inappropriate behavior. Incident reports help managers know what kind of corrective action they may need to take. These consequences can also help prevent future accidents.

2. Creates Hazard Awareness

Another big benefit of incident reporting: it keeps other employees safe by communicating potential dangers or problems. When an incident report is filed, company managers will be able to pinpoint and straighten out any potential safety issues.

This includes things like machinery that isn’t working, or safety equipment that is lacking. Incident reports help all employees be more aware of possible dangers around them and how to stay safe.

3. Helps Analyze Processes

When a workplace incident is reported, company leadership will be able to analyze the incident, thinking critically about what went wrong and why. From there, you’ll be able to define the next steps necessary to move forward with everyone’s safety in line.

Incident reports also provide insight into what processes could be tweaked or removed to maximize efficiency . The bottom line: Incident reporting helps improve a workplace in multiple important ways.

Looking for an easy way to design a workplace incident report? You can use the Visme creator to make an incident report by either starting from scratch with a completely unique design, or working off of a predefined incident report template that can be customized.

Either way, here’s what you’ll need to do.

1. Gather the Information

As soon as an incident happens, take action to start filing a report. Once the situation is stable and employees are no longer in danger, get all of the information you’ll need. This will include:

• The location, time and date of the incident
• Who was affected, including their job titles and contact information
• What happened (as told by the person affected and/or any witnesses)
• Contributing factors or any relevant contextual or environmental details
• The outcome (such as any injuries sustained, and how these were treated)
• Any damage to equipment or materials

Customize this detailed incident report using Visme’s software, adding additional information or editing what’s there so the incident report better fits your needs.

2. Structure and Organize The Report

Divide up the information you’ve gathered into categories that make sense. Then structure the information in a format that works well visually . Sectioning off different categories into boxes is a good way to do this, making it easy to understand the form at a glance.

Our Visme document creator allows you to drag-and-drop boxes wherever you want to create a structure that’s easy to follow. If you’re using an existing template, just click a box and then drag it around or delete it entirely. You can also add shapes, diagrams or completely change the layout of the form.

3. Include Your Branding

Your incident report form is a business document, so it should be branded just like all of your other business documents. Add your brand colors in the header, footer, and sidebars, and include your logo somewhere on the report.

This branding should include fonts, too, including header fonts and body fonts. It’s best to type the details of an incident report instead of writing by hand so that the report is easy to read and easy to digitally send.

This red-and-black template could be tweaked, keeping the same general structure of the form but adding in colors that work with your brand.

4. Create a Template

Save your finished incident report and keep it on hand for future use. You know incidents are going to happen — so it’s best to be prepared with an incident report that’s ready to go. A little time investment now to make a template that’s comprehensive, branded and visually attractive will pay off later when you don’t have to scramble.

A good incident report template will be usable for any type of incident. It should be easy to follow for any employee who witnesses or is part of an incident. If you feel that it’s necessary, you can add a line to each section explaining what to write in that box.

Get started with your workplace incident report by using one of our templates. Created by professional designers, these premium templates are available for anyone with a Visme account.

Each workplace incident report template can be opened in the Visme editor for quick drag-and-drop customization. Let's take a look at our favorite ones below.

1. Medical Incident Report

Perfect for anyone in the medical or healthcare industry , our medical incident report contains space for all of the relevant information you need to know: patient information, the concerned physician, patient medical history, current injury symptoms, observation and any medical exams or medications administered.

2. Security Incident Report

Stay on top of security with this cybersecurity incident report. This customizable report covers information including the details of the incident, the systems or data affected and whether assistance is needed from information security. With cyberattacks running rampant , it’s good to be prepared in case your business is targeted.

3. Standard Incident Report

Stick to the basics with this no-frills, minimalist incident report. Two simple sections include space for incident information and incident description. This form is a great grab-and-go option if you’re short on time and looking for a predefined report that doesn’t require extra work from your end.

4. Tech Company Incident Report

This five-page incident report ensures you’ll be able to give a comprehensive overview of the situation. After a cover page and table of contents, you’ll find an Incident Description page where you can add the incident details. Next comes Solution Details — fill in how the problem was solved. Finally, if needed you can add a third page explaining the Test Run Results, or what happened when you first gave the solution a go.

5. Detailed Incident Report

If a more complex incident occurred, this detailed incident report may be a good fit to help explain the information. The form is broken down into three primary categories: information about the person being reported, incident description and the cause of the incident. There’s also space to add analytical evaluation and further recommendations.

6. Statement Incident Report

The Statement Incident Report template is brief, but includes all of the necessary information that an incident report needs. Start with the details of the person reporting the incident; then move on to a short description of the event. Finally, add statements from the individuals or parties involved.

7. Employee Incident Report

This report template breaks down an incident based on what actions have already been taken and what else needs to be done. Use the Visme creator to edit the template and add your own branding. Then download as a PDF or share online.

8. Finance Company Incident Report

If you’re a finance company, this sleek tan-and-gray incident report template is for you. This document has space for contact details, a description of the incident (including its causes and whether police were notified) and who reported the event.

9. Workplace Incident Report

Tweak the colors and fonts to make this workplace incident report your own. Four simple sections are included against a white background: Add the relevant employee information, incident information, reporter information and tick off whether the police were notified.

10. Factory Incident Report

Incidents commonly occur in workplaces like factories where employees are working with machinery. Keep a copy of this factory incident report on hand in case it’s needed. This two-page report spans everything you need to know, with sections marked off in boxes to help with readability.

Create Your Own Incident Report

Use Visme’s online document creator to make your own incident report in minutes, working from one of our incident report templates or creating your own. Our live data integration allows you to connect charts to live data such as Google Sheets.

For example, if you want to track the number of incidents at your company or other information that might change regularly, you can have this data automatically updated from an external source. You can also utilize 3D graphics and gestures to improve visual cues for incidents.

And you aren’t limited to just incident reports — Visme can be used to create any kind of worksheet , report or document used in your workplace. Keep your employees and teammates safe by properly filing workplace incident reports whenever needed.

Create a professional incident report for your workplace.

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About the Author

Hailey Hudson is a full-time freelance writer and content marketer based out of Atlanta, Georgia, where her cat acts as coworker and supervisor. Hailey writes for clients like the BEE email editor, Kicksta, LYFE Marketing, and anyone else who will let her nerd out about digital marketing.

• Incident Report: Examples, Form Templates & Writing Guide

The saying, “accidents are bound to happen” is true for every individual and organization. In fact, it is normal to encounter incidents that have a far-reaching effect on productivity and when this happens, such an event should be accurately documented in an incident report.

An incident report, therefore, is the first step any individual or organization should take upon the occurrence of any unforeseen event that affects its output while putting other persons at risk. In this article, we will highlight the different features of an incident report and show you how to create an incident report form on Formplus . 

What is an Incident Report?

An incident report is a document that accurately provides the details of an incident; especially one that causes damages, injury, or death. It helps an organization to accurately profile the different events leading to such an incident and the aftermath(s) of this occurrence. 

It is also referred to as an accident report because it typically outlines information relating to an accident or injury. However, an incident report can also contain information about near misses or other unusual or hazardous happenings in different contexts. 

Features of an Incident Report  

An incident report is defined by the following features:

• Detailed Description : It narrates all the events surrounding the incident in question in their exact manner of occurrence. An incident report may include the following information: 
• The circumstances surrounding the incident.
• Date, time, and location of the incident.
• The details on witnesses and victims, if any.
• Reactionary measures put in place.
• The aftermath of the incident.
• Corrective actions are taken to reduce the likelihood of another incident. 

The more specific the incident report is, the more useful it will be in informing corrective decisions. 

• Facts : In an incident report, only the facts are stated. In this document, the reporter is not expected to communicate his or her feelings or opinions about the incident as this can distort the accuracy of the report and distract the organization from the details of the event. 
• Objectivity : An incident report must be written in an objective manner that is devoid of any emotions; regardless of the nature of the incident. The reporter must take extra care to avoid sentiments that can get in the way of an objective presentation of the details of the incident. 
• Sequence: An incident report presents events chronologically, that is, in their sequence of occurrence. The details must be organized in a logical manner that is easy to read, navigate and understand, and you are free to use subheadings and bullet points where applicable. 
• Witness Statements : When necessary, include first-hand information provided by witnesses about the incident. This can be in the form of direct statements made by the witnesses and they should be placed within quotation marks while you also provide information that explains the witnesses’ positions.
• Authorization: An incident report must be formally authorized by the reporter and other supervisor officers in the organization. This validates the information provided and it is important for the supervisory officer to proofread the information provided before appending his or her signature on the document. 

Types of Incident Reports

1. workplace incident report  .

A workplace incident report is a form that is used to profile physical occurrences that impact an employee’s productivity in the workplace. It includes workplace injuries, near misses, and accidents that have a negative impact on the employee (s) and the organization, in general. 

Usually, labor laws specify the kind of information that should be spelled out in a workplace incident report. This type of incident report may also highlight an employee’s concerns with an organization’s safety practices, security breaches, and workplace conduct. 

Examples of workplace incident reports include:

• A report about sexual harassment or assault in the workplace.
• A report about a fire incident that occurred within the office premises. 

2. Accident Report  

An accident report is a type of incident report that contains information about an accident or emergency that may be fatal, ghastly, or minor. An accident report is not restricted to the workplace as it can also be filed by law enforcement agents and safety officers. 

It is also referred to as an accident investigation report because it highlights all the probable causative factors that are responsible for the accident. It also helps the concerned parties to determine the extent of the damage and to support or refute insurance claims. 

Examples of accident reports include:

• A report on a fatal plane crash.
• A report of an explosion on an organization’s premises.

3. Security/Police Incident Report . 

A police incident report is a type of incident report that is used to keep track of the thefts/losses and any other types of security events that take place within specific premises. This report is important because it helps an organization keep track of security breaches and safety measures.

A security or police incident report is usually filed by the security personnel in charge of the premises where the security breach took place. It can also be filed in cases of computer system breaches, unauthorized access to an organization’s database, and compromised user accounts. 

Examples of safety and security incident report include:

• A report of property theft in an organization.
• A report on a burglary attempt in a neighborhood. 

Here are 7 Incident Report Form Template

1. incident report form.

Use this incident report form template to swiftly collect information about accidents and injuries as they occur. The Formplus incident report form will help your organization to easily track and record any unfortunate incidents and this information can prove useful in forestalling such an occurrence in the future. 

This form allows you to collect useful information about the victim, the location of the incident, and the nature of the incident. You can edit it in the form builder by adding more form fields to enable you to collect more information such as the signature of the reporter and the time of the report. 

2. Sexual Harassment Complaint Form

Allow your employees and clients to easily report any cases of sexual harassment for immediate investigation and redress using this sexual harassment complaint form . This form template enables victims of sexual harassment to inform the appropriate authorities about sexual abuse and sexual assault in the workplace.

With multiple form sharing options, Formplus allows you to easily share this sexual harassment form with your employees and the general public. You can embed the form on your organization’s website and you can also share it with your official social media pages through the direct sharing buttons.

3. Workplace Harassment Form

The Formplus workplace harassment form allows your employees to file a formal complaint about workplace harassment. This workplace harassment form template will help you to effectively track and address any cases of bullying, sexual harassment or assault in your organization. 

With this form, you can collect a range of important information with regard to the nature of the harassment and the employee details of the complainant and the accused. You can use this form template or edit it to suit your organization’s needs in the form builder. 

4. Online Petition Form

Do you want to advocate for a change or register your displeasure about a particular policy or action? Use this online petition form template to easily create a petition for the government, an individual or an organization. 

In the Formplus online petition form, you can directly collect digital signatures from petition signatories using the e-signature field. Formplus also allows your form respondents to fill and submit your online petition when they have limited or no internet access.

5. Proxy Form

With this proxy form template, you can formally empower a third party to make decisions on your behalf for a specific period of time. This form serves as a legal tender and it helps you to avoid the inconsistencies that are associated with a verbal authorization.  

The Formplus proxy form template contains signature fields that collect the digital signatures of all parties involved in this agreement. You can also edit the form in the builder to include more form fields when you sign up on Formplus

6. Bug Report Form

This bug report form will help you to stay on top of every situation by collecting real-time reports about different issues that may arise with your online services.

This form allows your customers to swiftly register their dissatisfaction with your organization’s online services so that you can resolve them in time. 

7. Daily Report Form

Track your worker’s daily productivity using this daily report form template. The Formplus daily report form allows you to assess your worker’s performance at the end of the day, and you can edit it to suit your organization’s needs in the form builder. 

Can’t find your preferred incident report form? learn how to create one below.

How to Create an Incident Report Form on Formplus

1. sign in to formplus.

In the Formplus builder, you can easily create your organization’s incident report form by dragging and dropping preferred fields into your form. To access the Formplus builder, you will need to create an account on Formplus. 

Once you do this, sign in to your account and click on “Create Form ” to begin. 

2. Edit Form Title

Click on the field provided to input your form title, for example, “Incident Report Form”.

3. Edit Form

Click on the edit button to edit the form.

• Edit fields: You can modify your form field to be hidden or read-only based on your organization’s needs. 
• Click on “Save”
• Preview form. 

4. Form Customization

With the form customization options, you can easily change the outlook of your form and make it more unique and personalized. Formplus allows you to change your form theme, add background images and even change the font according to your needs. 

5. Multiple Sharing Options

How to write an incident report letter.

An incident report letter is a formal document that contains all the information with regard to the particular occurrence that is being reported. A good incident report letter effectively outlines the different events surrounding the incident and suggests measures that can be taken to avoid a recurrence in the future.

Here is a step-by-step guide on how to write an incident report letter:

Follow the Protocol

Find out if your organization already has a procedure for writing an incident report letter. In many cases, organizations have a template for this type of letter and it is best to follow the provided outline to avoid any inconsistencies. 

Write your Letter as Soon as Possible

Typically, an incident report letter should be sent in, at most, 48 hours after the incident. Writing your letter immediately after the incident would help you to provide vivid and accurate descriptions of the events surrounding the incident. 

Outline the Facts

Usually, an incident report letter follows the 5Ws and 1H format, that is, what, when, where, who, why and how. Typically, it should explicitly state the following:  

• The time and date of the incident
• The location of the incident
• Your name and other bio-data details.
• The name(s) of any other individual(s) involved in the incident.
• Provide a general overview of the occurrence.
• Provide a detailed description of the incident: Write about the incident in the sequence of occurrence, from the first-person point of view. 
• Suggest proactive measures that can be taken to avoid a recurrence of the incident. 

Incident Report Letter Sample

Uses of incident report  .

• An incident report allows you to accurately document the details of any occurrence in your organization. This information may be useful in the future when dealing with liability issues stemming from the incident. 
• It evaluates the incident and provides recommendations on precautionary and reactionary measures to be taken. 
• An incident report serves as an effective feedback mechanism and it raises the overall awareness of your employees and clients. 
• It improves the safety culture of your organization. 
• A near-miss incident report provides invaluable information that enables companies to proactively resolve hazards. 
• Incident reports can also be used as safety documents that highlight potential risks and uncontrolled hazards found in the workplace.

Conclusion  

When drafting an incident report, it is important for you to accurately reflect the different events in the order in which their order of occurrences. You should also take extra care to document facts and not opinions or hearsays because these will affect the validity and usefulness of the report in the end. 

Finally, it is easier to document an incident report using an online form. Online forms are more convenient and you can easily embed them on your organization’s website or share them with your social media pages so that all concerned parties can access them easily. 

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1 st Reporting

How to Write an Incident Report: 11 Easy Steps (2024 Guide)

Posted 18.01.21 by: Bond Seidel

How to Write an Incident Report: 11 Easy Steps (2024 Guide) was updated for 2024 to bring you the most relevant information.

If you’re wondering how to write an incident report, you’ve come to the right place. Writing incident reports is an essential stage of any company’s health and safety program, so correctly writing the report is essential. In this guide, we’ll walk you through all the vital steps to writing your incident report efficiently and effectively on the first try.

Writing a valuable and comprehensive incident report is easily accomplished in 11 steps. With some critical points included, writing an incident report will soon be second nature to you (but we hope you don’t have to write too many).

We’ll start by examining the three primary considerations we have to make before writing an incident report. These include choosing the correct category and type of incident report, what relevant information to include in the report, and legal concerns with incident report contents. Then we’ll write the IR (incident Report) step by step. So, keep reading for everything you need to know about writing an incident report.

Table of Contents

Before You Begin: 3 Things To Consider About How To Write An Incident Report

• Incident Report Definition And Type Selection
• Relevant Information To Include In Your Incident Report
• Legal Concerns With Incident Report Contents

Explore the following three sections to determine what you need to consider before we dive into how to write your report. Keep in mind that these three considerations are not to be confused with the three requirements for writing an incident report:

• The report must be factual and without assumption.
• An incident report must be accurate and without bias.
• The incident report must be complete.

If you’re looking for more information about precisely what needs to be included in an incident report , you should read our article specializing in the subject: 12 Things To Include In An Incident Report (With 5 Tips)

Now that we’ve clarified needs versus considerations for our incident report let’s move on to those considerations.

1) Incident Report Definition And Type Selection

With so many industries in our modern society, it stands to reason that there would also be several incident report types. However, depending on the industry, some may have different definitions for what classifies as an incident.

Some of the more common categories of incident reports, with a few examples of each, are as follows.

• Employee Injury Report
• Near Miss Report
• Vehicle Accident Report
• Chemical Spill Incident Report
• Asbestos Exposure Incident Report (also classified as a human resources report)

As you may have gleaned from the above categories, your definition of an incident may have a different meaning depending on whether you’re referring to a vehicle, person, property, or something else. However, we can assume that an incident constitutes any situation where injury or damage could occur to a person, thing, or property.

Depending on the incident report type, you may find that you must file some reports with the authorities within a specific time. Take a vehicular accident report in New York, for example. If there is injury (or death) or damage over $1000, all drivers involved must file an accident report within ten days from the incident’s date. ( source )

For more information about definitions of the incident and the differences between an incident and an accident, look at our article Incident Report Vs. Accident Report – Differences For Business.

2) Relevant Information To Include In Your Incident Report

You must include several things in each incident report, no matter the type of incident. However, we can make some general assumptions about what information is required. Here’s a quick run-down of what you need to include:

• Affected people, property, or business units
• Description of injuries, damage, or hazard
• Date, time, and location of the incident or hazard
• Events leading up to the incident or hazard (if applicable)
• Local conditions that may have affected the incident
• Resolutions to the incident or hazard and further recommendations.
• Witness and report writer information, including contact information

The above inclusions to the incident report are similar to the nine contents of a police report, according to Nolo’s information on the contents of a police report. ( source )

Including the items listed above will ensure that your incident report includes the information needed to be effective. Just remember to pay attention to each section of the unique report type you are completing if there is further information called for on the report that is not listed above, as will be the case in any situation where customized or unique events transpire that require incident reporting.

For a more in-depth look at the Incident Reporting process, read about The Incident Report And The Disclosure Process here.

Are you looking for a solution for your incident and inspection reporting?

Let’s move on to the process of completing the report. Using a method and adopting uniform procedures ensures all staff receive equal training and understand their roles and steps required for your health and safety incident reporting practices.

Before you start writing, consider the legalities for a moment.

3) Legal Concerns With Incident Report Contents

There is no shortage of lawsuits resulting from workplace incidents in the United States and other countries. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2019 in the United States, private industry nonfatal injuries in the workplace were reported to be 2.8 million . That’s an awful lot of injuries and an awful lot of potential litigation.

So, how do companies protect themselves? The first step is to ensure that incident reports are filled out honestly and to the best of the reporter’s ability. But there’s more to it, especially if an injury or incident at work lands your company (or you) in court.

According to Immix Law, simply stamping confidential on an incident report won’t protect your company from having to divulge said document in court. The document must qualify as a “work product” under the Work Product Doctrine in many US states. ( source )

The incident report must meet three criteria to qualify as a work product. The incident report has to be:

• Documents or tangible things
• Prepared by a party or its representative
• In anticipation of litigation

As you can see, most incident reports fall short of being classified as documents created in anticipation of litigation. The kicker makes it challenging to keep these documents suppressed should a situation end up in court. After all, these documents are typically a part of everyday business, not prepared in anticipation of legal action.

The bottom line is that you must know what is written in the report. It exemplifies that an intelligent health and safety program includes Near Miss , Safety Leading Indicators , and Dangerous Situation reports at the minimum to aid in incident preventive actions. After all, if you can prevent incidents in the first place, you don’t have to worry about writing too many incident reports in the first place.

Remember to check with your lawyer for all the requirements in your state for reporting incidents, as this article does not constitute legal advice.

Tip: It’s a smart idea to include screening documentation in your incident reporting program to help maintain a safe and healthy work environment in these trying times we live in.

Writing An Incident Report In 11 Steps

Now that you’re prepared and armed with the knowledge of incident report types, data to include, and legalities to keep in mind. So, what is the first step in writing an incident report? The first step to writing an incident report is to determine the appropriate type of report based on the incident type.

Learn more about incident management and streamlining your management here.

1) Obtain The Appropriate Incident Report Type.

Our incident report writing journey begins with the selection of the appropriate document. Your company should have procedures in place for incidents and also have the proper documentation. If you aren’t sure, ask your manager which forms or reports you need for your situation.

You’ll find multiple Incident Report Templates here if you require a downloadable template to get you started.

2) Complete The Administrative Section Of The Report.

The administrative section of your incident report will detail your name, location, time, date, and other information required on your incident report. Notice the cutaway of a near-miss report shown above. The first section of the IR is where the administrative report information is.

3) Completely Fill In Any Victim Information (If Applicable).

You must record the victim’s information if the incident report type is an injury. Take a look at the following cutaway from a generic Employee Injury Report. As you can see, the injured team member’s information, in this case, is included below the administrative area of the report.

4) Completely Fill In Any Witness Information (If Applicable).

Any witness or witnesses present for the incident should have their names and contact information recorded if someone needs to contact them at a later date.

5) Complete Any Section Of The Incident Report About Emergency Services Contacted.

A significant, if not essential, part of the incident report includes emergency service information when these services are involved. If someone calls the police, you should report the names, badge numbers, and division numbers of officers attending. If an injury results in emergency health care, the clinic, hospital, or other emergency service location where a person is taken or sent needs recording.

6) Detail The Events That Led Up To The Incident Occurring.

In many cases where an event occurs that deems an incident report warranted, the incident is often preventable. Investigating the root causes (root cause analysis) can reveal how someone could prevent the incident. Using Safety Leading Indicators to aid in this process is recommended.

For the details leading up to the incident, try to explain all the events that led up to the incident in as great detail as possible. Remember that there are a few trivial points, and some details may seem more relevant in hindsight, so ensure to include everything you can.

7) Detail The Environment And Conditions Present At The Time Of The Incident.

Sometimes incidents are no-fault and caused by environmental conditions. Even the first person on the scene might fall on the way to get sand or salt to clear the ice when it’s icy on the ground. When these uncontrollable incidents occur, or any incident for that matter, it is essential to note any environmental conditions that may have contributed to or even caused the incident. It could be poor visibility, icy or slippery ground, or other atmospheric and environmental conditions that may have contributed.

8) Detail The Incident Itself, Noting Who Or What Was Affected.

The meat and potatoes of the incident report include the detail of the incident itself. In this section, one must pay close attention to detail and avoid including emotion. It can be easy to incorrectly assess a situation during tense incidents and place blame before finding the truth.

When recording the details of the incident, you should attempt to write in an impartial encyclopedic fashion. Detail notes from the third person, adding descriptiveness to the narrative without including personal thoughts, feelings, or suspicions. An unbiased report does not blame individuals; it merely records the events as truthfully as possible.

If a drawing, pictures, video, or other media is available, it is always prudent to include more details. However, a digital reporting solution like the 1 ST Incident Reporting App can include digital media files to improve your incident reporting.

9) Detail The Actions Taken To Mitigate Hazards And Contain The Situation.

A vital component of the incident reporting process includes the steps taken to mitigate a hazard, help an injured person, or other actions to control and aid in preventing further injury or damage from the incident.

Remember the part about the legal ramifications of what we write in the report? If a person is injured and you don’t write down how you provided the aid, you have no record of helping them.

10) Detail Any Recommendations Or Preventive Actions Required.

Like the section on immediate actions taken, we must transcribe any recommended further measures to mitigate hazards. These actions are those that cannot be quickly or easily implemented by the person writing the report. It might include fabricating new machine guards or obtaining traffic lights and sensors for a parking garage entrance. There are many possibilities here; the point is to attempt to do what we can to help prevent further incidents from occurring.

11) Finalize The Incident Report And Sign-off On Its Completion.

The incident report should now be complete. Any incident report’s finalization process should include a quick verification that all necessary information is on the IR. Also, the three considerations before writing ought to find their way into your mind while you read over your report.

A Final Thought On Writing Incident Reports

A concise and encompassing health and safety reporting process is a necessity in today’s world of business. Liability mitigation is imperative for business today, with so many possible incidents. And what better way to aid in incident prevention than by using an efficient reporting system?

If your business isn’t using a digital solution for incident reporting, you’re missing out on a much more efficient way of preventing and documenting incidents. Click here to learn more about creating incident reports and incident management in the workplace .

Take the 1 ST Reporting App , for example. We’ve created a system to aid your business in making the reporting process simple for your staff. With features like near-instant custom notifications, easy document retrieval, and simple supplemental media uploading, a digital reporting solution’s effectiveness over a paper-based process is evident.

• Featured photo by Sora Shimazaki from Pexels .
• https://dmv.ny.gov/dmv-records/how-file-motorist-accident-report
• https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/car-accidents-police-reports.html
• https://immixlaw.com/preparing-your-incident-reports/
• https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/osh.pdf

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What is an incident report?

How to write an incident report, top 5 platforms for creating effective incident reports.

An incident report is a form used to record workplace accidents, injuries, illnesses or near misses. It’s very important to submit an incident report when an incident happens, regardless of whether it caused any injuries to employees. That’s because an incident report helps you uncover the circumstances and conditions that led to the event so you can make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Record the basic facts

Start by recording basic facts related to the incident. These include:

• Type of incident: Illness, injury, theft, near miss or property damage
• Location of incident
• Date and time

Note affected individuals

Collect and record details such as names, job titles, departments and any other useful information about those involved or affected by the incident.

Find witnesses

Collect details of any witnesses of the event and record their statements as detailed and accurate as possible.

Create a narrative description of the incident

Document the sequence of events that led to the incident. It’s important to specify the actions of those involved at the time of the incident. This will help you identify which factors were present before the incident and could be a potential contributing factor to the incident occurring.

Some factors to consider:

• What did the employee do?
• Who trained the employee or who asked them to complete the task?
• How was the employee feeling before the incident?
• For example: Was there a burned-out light bulb? Was a piece of equipment faulty? Was there a blind spot in the area causing the employee poor visibility?
• Was the employee wearing appropriate personal protective equipment?

Note the injuries

If any injuries were incurred, give a detailed description and include parts of the body injured as well as the nature and severity of the injuries.

Record the treatment

Document the type of treatment administered for the acknowledged injuries so you can follow up with the employee’s progress and recovery when reviewing the specifics of the event.

Indicate damages

Record and account for any damage to equipment and materials that were affected by the incident to determine what items will need to be repaired or replaced.

Establish a corrective action plan

Analyze the facts collected and documented in the incident report and determine a corrective action plan. A corrective action plan provides recommendations for preventing the possibility of both an increase in the severity of the incident and the recurrence of the incident.

Below are five well-known and widely utilized incident report software solutions to help you quickly record any incidents as soon as they occur. These incident templates are designed to capture a comprehensive and precise account of the situation, resulting in swift and informed decisions.

SEE: The COVID-19 gender gap: Why women are leaving their jobs and how to get them back to work (free PDF) (TechRepublic)

Jotform is a free platform that lets you create custom online incident reports from your smartphone or tablet. The form is easy to fill out and you can customize it in just a few clicks.

With Jotform, you can gather important digital documents as well as collect files and electronic signatures from clients, coworkers and colleagues. There’s a Form Builder feature that offers a variety of unique form fields designed to get you the data you need. Other features include kiosk mode, geolocation fields and offline data collection.

Smartsheet is a flexible platform designed to match the needs of your team — and adapt as those needs change. The platform offers roll-up reports, dashboards and automated workflows built to keep your team connected and informed.

Smartsheet free templates can be used to report various types of events including accidents, injuries, workplace incidents, property loss or damage, and close calls. The forms allow you to record information and key metrics about all parties involved, details of the incident itself, any law enforcement interaction, witness information and any medical treatment administered.

With Smartsheet you can get real-time visibility and it’s easy to plan, capture, manage and report on work from anywhere, helping your team be more effective and get more done.

1st Reporting

1st Reporting is an all-in-one incident reporting software that empowers your field team with the tools they need to generate actionable reports to identify problem areas in their day-to-day operations. The cloud-based solution allows your in-field teams to log reports in real-time online from any device, which in turn helps get their jobs done quicker and safer.

The solution offers an incident reporting dashboard so all your reports are in one place. You can create customized inspection and incident report forms to capture the data you need from your team in the field.

You also get incident notifications and data insights so you can monitor incidents, respond and take action from your smartphone or desktop.

Delinea, previously known as ThycoticCentrify, is an innovative and intuitive platform that offers a customizable cybersecurity incident report template.

Delinea’s incident response plan templates help keep detailed records of breaches in your organization. Keeping these records can enable your incident response teams to reduce the risk of a breach from becoming a catastrophe and maintain your business continuity.

The templates also come with customization instructions for assembling an incident response team, a checklist of roles and responsibilities and details for actionable steps to measure the extent of a cyber security incident.

monday offers simple yet powerful incident templates that let you easily keep track of your incidents.

monday incident templates offer an agile, responsive, flexible way of recording everything from facts about the process of the incident to sorting or filtering your data. This helps provide greater insight into your incidents and you can easily highlight your most common root causes and the severity of your most common

The forms are highly customizable so you can add action items, reorder based on priority and create a tailored plan to fit your needs.

monday also provides a dashboard where you can assign team members to each action item and monitor your plan’s progress at every stage. You can also receive incident reports and you can also create and share a corrective action plan with your team on the dashboard.

A major benefit of using this template is you can export to Excel with just one click, and you can also import your Excel spreadsheet easily. You can also integrate monday with other existing tools such as Jira, GitLab or BugHerd, and they will automatically update your incident report templates.

Incident reports are a critical component of any company’s incident response plan. They serve as a means for creating a Corrective Action Plan to avoid repeat mistakes. Using the above applications will ensure you always have relevant and thorough incident report templates ready and available to capture details of any incident that may arise.

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How to create an incident report (best practices & templates).

It would be nice if we existed in a wonderful land of sunshine and rainbows, where no one ever got hurt and nothing ever went wrong, but it only takes one look at the news to know that’s not happening any time soon.

Things go wrong. It’s a part of life. Every single day cars crash, printers malfunction, roofs collapse and workplace injuries of all shapes and sizes occur around the globe.

Since incidents do happen, it’s a good idea to be prepared for any situation that may arise. It’s like when it rains—you can’t control the weather, but you can sure carry an umbrella.

Whether you’re battling the weather or workplace safety, being prepared is half the battle. In this blog post we’ll outline how to create an incident report to help ensure your work environment is safe and you're prepared when incidents inevitably occur.

What is an incident report?

An incident report is a form used to record the details of any event that caused or might have caused injury, illness or damage to a person or piece of company property.

Incident report forms usually relate to an accident or injury occurring in the workplace, but can be used for a variety of reasons, from near misses and property damage to health and safety issues, security breaches and workplace misconduct.

They are an essential tool in the investigation that takes place when things go wrong. For example, after the Rebellion destroyed the Death Star at the end of Star Wars: A New Hope , the Empire would have had his hands full with lots of incident reports.

They aim to determine the facts of the event, locate the root cause of the incident and help you figure out corrective actions that could remove potential risks and stop the same type of incident happening in the future.

Incident forms can also be used as preventative reports to highlight any potential hazards found in your workplace and stop incidents before they happen—it’s like that Tom Cruise movie, Minority Report , where they stop crimes before they take place.

The best thing about incident reports is that they’re democratic. Any employee can fill one out whether something has happened to them, they have witnessed something happen to a co-worker, or want to raise awareness about something they think could be hazardous and lead to an incident in the future.

While the idea is simple to get your head around, there are certain things you have to include if you want to write an effective incident report. This way you can ensure the safety, morale and productivity of your employees .

The key elements of a good incident report

There are lots of features that combine to make a well-written incident report. But the first and most important is that you take immediate action. Whether someone stubbed their toe or a more serious workplace incident has taken place, you need to write the report as soon as the event occurs.

By starting straight away you’ll get a more accurate depiction of what happened from any witnesses and victims. Not only that, depending on where you live, there’s a chance you’re legally bound to complete the incident reporting process in a certain period of time.

Once you start, there’s one word to keep in mind: details .

Your main responsibility when writing an incident report is noting down every minute detail you can think of. You know that grandparent you have that takes three hours to recount a story because they’re bogged down in every little thing? That needs to be you.

Here's a quick overview of the kind of details to include:

• The type of incident
• A general description of the incident (written as a sequence of events)
• The date and time of the incident
• The full names and details of any witnesses and/or victims
• Witness statements
• Any medical treatment required
• Photo or video evidence of evidence/damage/wrongdoing

If you’re in doubt whether to add something, the general rule is to just add it. Have you ever seen a crime movie where the detective says, “Geez, I wish we had less evidence”? No. It doesn't exist. You never know what seemingly insignificant thing might come in handy in the future.

Speaking of law enforcement, remember that you’re not there to hunt for suspects or lead a witch hunt. It's not a police report . If someone is at fault you can follow up in the future, but when you’re writing your report it’s your job to get an objective description of the incident . That’s all.

Plus, if you’re throwing accusations around and looking for someone to blame, the chances are your employees won’t want to participate in the investigation or provide honest witness statements.

Concentrate on the facts and try not to get caught up in feelings and opinions. People have a right to be angry or upset when something goes wrong, whether it’s a minor injury or something more serious, but emotions tend to obscure the truth.

An easy way to avoid inaccuracy is by sticking to the essential questions - who, what, when, why, where and how. These will probably ring a bell from your childhood English class. Ask not only the people who were injured or involved, but also any witnesses that happened to be at the location of the incident.

Be sure to include plenty of photos, videos, diagrams and even illustrations as evidence. Smartphones make this easy, so there's no excuse. Take photos of the injury, the damage, the guy standing around sipping his latte—anything and everything.

Visual evidence trumps most other forms of record-keeping because it’s nearly impossible to argue with. People can rescind statements or fight over the details of what happened, so it helps to have things on camera. It’s a safety net for both you and your employees.

The icing on the cake of a good incident report is validation. No, not the kind where someone says you look nice. This is where you get everyone involved in the incident (e.g. victims, witnesses, managers, human resources etc.) to sign off on the report. By doing so they’re validating that, as far as they know, the incident report is completely accurate.

To sum that all up in easy-to-digest dot points, when writing your incident report you should make sure it’s:

• Supported by visual evidence

Why is correct incident reporting so important?

When done correctly incident reports promote, encourage and improve workplace safety. They help your business stand out from the pack by creating a safe working environment and a great culture for your employees to work and flourish in. This happens in a few ways.

Discouraging improper actions

Incident reports encourage or discourage actions when they happen. Let’s say one of your employees on a job site forgot to wear the correct personal protective equipment (PPE). By documenting and reporting the details you can figure out what measures need to be taken and how it can be avoided next time.

Through the incident reporting process you highlight the seriousness of what has taken place - even if someone hasn’t been hurt. This acts as a reminder to other employees that safety is serious, and events need to be reported no matter the outcome.

Of course there is also the additional benefit of making sure that correct medical treatment is offered as soon as possible. Having staff aware of incident reporting processes increases the chance of proper first aid being administered immediately.

Hazard awareness

Incident reports also call attention to potential threats, risks and hazards and put them on the radar of all employees within your organization. Doing so allows you to put measures in place to prevent or mitigate danger as much as possible. This makes incident reporting a particularly important tool for high-risk construction, manufacturing and mining industries.

Even offices, where seemingly the biggest ‘danger’ is the local café running out of almond milk, can be full of potential threats like loose cables, faulty machines and equipment, poor employee behaviour and incorrect PPE.

Making sure your incident reporting system is correct helps you understand hazards, put procedures in place to deal with them and teaches employees to spot threats and deal with them as soon as possible.

Improving safety processes

A good incident report shows what your organization needs to focus on fixing. It gives you insights into processes that need to change, improve or be kicked to the curb. Maybe you need to implement new policies and regulations. Maybe you need to train your employees in certain skills, or provide them with better equipment.

Whatever the case, with a proper incident report you’ll be able to assess your needs and adapt your processes depending on what findings you make. Once you’ve done this, you’ll be able to assess how these changes have contributed positively or negatively to the safety and quality of the workplace.

Types of incidents that need to be reported

As you can imagine there’s a huge array of incidents that should be reported. This includes everything from fatalities and minor injuries to property damage and things that didn't actually happen at all.

If you’re serious about workplace safety (which of course you are) all employees, managers and safety supervisors need to be aware of incidents that have to be reported.

Let’s take a look at a few of the main incident reports that you need to familiarize yourself with.

Injury incident report

No matter what you do, sometimes injuries happen that require on-site treatment or a trip to the hospital. Most of the time things will be sorted with a band-aid from the first aid kit and workers can return to work immediately, but sometimes more serious injuries occur.

Whether it’s a minor injury or something out of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre , it’s vital that you create a comprehensive incident report. If you work in an industry that’s vulnerable to physical injuries of all kinds, like construction, you better get used to filling these in.

When creating an injury incident report, concentrate on a description of the incident, try to include lots of photos and record whether proper PPE gear and protocols were followed.

injury incident report form

Near miss incident report.

Near miss reports are for when someone could have been injured or property could have been damaged, but through pure luck it didn’t happen.

Let’s say someone in the office spills a glass of water and doesn’t clean it up. You slip on the puddle, but manage to catch yourself before falling over. Yes you’ve saved yourself from an embarrassing fall, but you’ve also had a near miss. Time to create an incident report.

These reports are important to mitigate future risks and prevent more serious events from taking place. Make sure to note the time and date of  the incident, details about the hazard and if any other people were involved.

near miss incident report form

Employee misconduct incident report.

An employee misconduct form is something that hopefully you won’t have to deal with. It is a type of incident report reserved for when an employee has violated company policy. This could be anything from sharing private company information on social media to abusing or sexually assaulting a colleague.

As a general rule this form should be filled out and sent to your human resources department . Usually these will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, unless the accusation is serious, then it can be forwarded to law enforcement.

For that reason the report needs to be extra detailed. Include extensive information about the misconduct or allegation, include witness testimony and any supporting evidence like video footage, emails or text messages.

Want to make your own incident report today?

Try Paperform for free

Accident report

While an incident refers to any event big or small, intended or otherwise, an accident is an event caused by a mistake or plain old bad luck. Accident reports cover events like fires, car accidents, equipment malfunctions and when Karen from accounting spills her smoothie.

Accidents are the most common report you’ll fill out because most people don’t intend to do the wrong thing or hurt themselves. But just because they don’t mean to doesn’t mean there's no value for your business.

Let’s say someone forgets to wear their hardhat on a job site and hits their head. That was an accident - they didn’t mean to forget their hat and certainly didn’t mean to bang their head. But what can this tell you about your processes? Maybe you need to store hats in a more obvious location? Or maybe you need to have the foreman check PPE before work?

Accident incident reports (say that five times fast) are one of the best ways to assess your workplace safety processes and minimize the potential hazards and risks your employees face.

accident report form

Exposure incident report.

A couple of years ago, an exposure incident report was a niche report type used in the scientific and healthcare fields to report exposure to dangerous chemicals and pathogens.

But 2020 was a special year for many reasons and low and behold, thanks to COVID-19, exposure incident reports are now the 'it' thing in the incident reporting world. With countries on lockdown, over a million global deaths and large and small companies being affected around the world, tracking and monitoring instances of Coronavirus exposure is extremely important.

If someone is even suspected of having COVID-19 you should write an exposure incident report straight away. Make sure you mark down any colleagues that came into contact with the person, as well as the exact time, date and location so you can track the spread of the virus.

This ensures you’ll keep your workplace - and the wider world - safe, healthy and coronavirus-free. (COVID-19 is stressful to deal with. If you need any COVID-19 forms, we have a whole collection to help you out ).

first aid report form

Incident report template.

No one wants to sit down and fill out an ugly, boring paper document. The easier your forms are to fill out, the more effective they'll be at capturing information accurately. Paperless is the future. That's where Paperform comes in.

Paperform’s sample incident report template makes it easy to create your own report that's relevant to your field, customized with your brand logo and colors and a breeze for your employees to fill in.

incident report form

If you haven't written an incident report before, the template above is pre-filled with relevant questions to give you an idea of what to ask. You can use different text fields to collect different forms of information - from email addresses and specific dates to long responses and Yes/No buttons to speed up the process.

The Yes/No option seems simple, but it allows what's called conditional logic to make the form magically adapt to the answer it receives. Let's say you include the question, 'Were there any injuries?'

You can set it up so the respondent sees different options depending on how they answer. If they answer 'Yes' the form will add a box for them to describe the injury, as well as an option to upload images as supporting evidence. If they answer no, they'll be able to move on to the next question.

Another feature is the ability to add esignatures to your form . This allows employees filling out the form to fill out the form and verify their statements in the same place without having to go through a third-party app like DocuSign or the rigmarole of printing, signing and re-uploading it.

Once you're happy with your questions you can customize the form to your liking. Add your brand logo, tweak the colors and fonts and set up an automatic email to explain the next steps to respondents. You can then export your incident report to a third-party app like Google Sheets to analyze your data with the click of a button.

Paperform helps make the incident reporting process more dynamic and intuitive for your respondents. Whether you use the above template to get started or start with a blank canvas, Paperform will help save you time, simplify processes and allow you to concentrate on making your workplace as safe as possible.

Why not get started today with our 14-day free trial ? No credit card required.

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Incident Reporting: Understanding the What, Why, and How

What is Incident Reporting?

Incident Reporting is a practice devised to ensure safety in the workplace and prevent future accidents. It entails the full documentation of any workplace accident, injury, or situation that had the potential to cause an accident. For an incident to warrant reporting, it must pose a significant threat (real-time and potential) to the employees or the property of the organization. 

An incident report is filed by the employees themselves when they experience the incident themselves or even bear witness to one. This report holds all the necessary information pertaining to the incident such as date, time, location, brief description, evidence (if any), etc. 

Why is Incident Reporting Important for Workplace Safety?

• Incident Reporting is important to promote workplace safety because it creates awareness about potential threats and hazards. 
• The investigation that ensues reveals probable causes, enabling the management to undertake corrective and preventive actions to prevent the recurrence of such accidents.
• It also uncovers areas of improvement wherein new interventions can be introduced to make the working conditions safer.
• Active participation from the employees aids the management in identifying unsafe trends, patterns, or anomalies in the workplace.
• Incident reporting also ensures compliance with health and safety regulations. 

Promoting a Positive Reporting Culture

Fostering an open and secure workplace requires creating a good reporting culture. Employees are better equipped to contribute to the well-being of the organization when they are encouraged to report events without fear. This curates a safe space where concerns are acknowledged and productively addressed. This inclusive approach promotes a better safety culture and ensures a workplace where everyone feels appreciated and empowered while also quickly identifying issues and boosting morale.

How to Write an Incident Report

When writing an incident report, you have to be certain that the information is factual and accurate. You will have to include the following things in a report - 

The Role of Technology

Technology has a significant influence on incident reporting, revolutionizing workplace safety procedures. Incident Reporting has been streamlined by digital technologies, allowing employees to comfortably and quickly report incidents. A proactive attitude to safety is encouraged through accessible channels provided by mobile applications and internet platforms for raising concerns. Technology also helps with data collecting and analysis, making it easier to see patterns and potential improvement areas. This data-driven understanding improves judgment, which eventually stops accidents from happening again. Utilizing technology not only updates reporting processes but also empowers, encouraging a culture of vigilance and cooperation that creates a more secure and safer workplace.

How Does SafetyConnect App?

SafetyConnect's Driving Safety Solution prioritizes the well-being of field employees while they're on the road. Among its array of features aimed at providing actionable insights and reducing accidents, incident reporting stands out. 

You can easily report incidents or near misses, furnishing all necessary details. This data is accessible to management, empowering them to take essential measures. Book a free demo to explore its benefits firsthand.

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Incident Report Samples to Help You Describe Accidents

Your company’s incident report form should make it easy to record the details of a workplace accident. Even fill-in-the-blank forms require a long-form description of the incident. This portion of the report can be the most difficult part to write.

In this article, we provide completed incident report samples to help you hone your documentation skills.

What Does an Incident Report Need to Include?

An incident report is a formal recording of the facts related to a workplace accident, injury, or near miss . Its primary purpose is to uncover the circumstances and conditions that led to the event in order to prevent future incidents. 

Every incident report you file should contain a minimum of the following:

• Type of incident (injury, near miss, property damage, or theft)
• Date of incident
• Time of incident
• Name of affected individual
• A narrative description of the incident, including the sequence of events and results of the incident
• Injuries, if any
• Treatments required, if any
• Witness name(s)
• Witness statements
• Other workers involved
• Video and/or 360-degree photographs of the scene

Include quantifiable measurements where possible. For example, the ladder capacity is 250 lbs and the victim was hoisting 300 lbs. 

Finally, where more than one person is injured in an incident, create a unique report for each affected employee . While it’s fine to duplicate general details between reports of this nature, you’ll need to include details specific to that person, such as the event from their point of view or medical records.

When Does an Incident Report Need to Be Completed?

Create an incident report as soon as your employees are safe , which includes seeking medical attention and implementing an immediate corrective action to prevent further danger or damage.

By recording details immediately, you improve the accuracy of your report and the effects of your corrective actions. While it may take a few days to complete your report, it should take you only hours (or less) to start it. 

Depending on your company policies and oversight from relevant regulatory bodies, you may be legally bound to complete an incident report within a given amount of time. If the incident resulted in a recordable injury, you must complete OSHA Form 301 within seven days. In addition, you may need to send your report to the organization providing oversight, US Federal or State OSHA , for example, within a given period of time. 

Review federal OSHA incident reporting and recordkeeping requirements or visit your state OSHA website for details. Remember that you must also report a fatality, hospitalization, or amputation directly to OSHA.

Safety Management Tip : Safesite Premium users enjoy streamlined OSHA incident recording with Safesite’s OSHA300 log integration feature .

Incident Reporting Mistakes to Avoid

Incident reports are more than a mandatory form to complete: they’re a vital part of your recordkeeping practices both for compliance and safety in general. Their importance means you want to get as much relevant information as you can as quickly as possible. But sometimes, safety teams can get in their own way and miss out on important details by making common mistakes.

Blame-casting and just getting it done are two common incident reporting mistakes you should avoid.  

It is easy to go on a witch hunt when accidents happen. However, incident reports aren’t created for the purpose of finding out who’s to blame. While staff should be held responsible (as stipulated by company policy) when they knowingly endanger themselves others, an incident report should focus on improving workplace safety.

If you make it clear you’ll abide by company policy but are not out to cast blame, you increase the likelihood that employees will participate in your incident investigation and provide honest witness statements. These factors create a stronger incident report.

In addition, if you rush through the report to “just get it done,” you may miss out on important details or lack clarity in wording. Irresponsible reporting can lead your team into even more danger, while detailed, clear reporting can lead to improved work conditions and better training. 

Three Incident Report Samples

Below are some sample incident report formats for three common types of workplace accidents. Use them as guides to effectively describe events.

Injury and Lost Time Incident Report Sample

If an injury requiring medical treatment, lost time/altered responsibilities happens in your workplace, it’s important to document it ASAP while the details are still fresh in memory. 

Here are some of the vital elements to include in your description of the incident:

• Location (Address)
• Date/time of incident
• Name of supervisor
• Description of the incident, including specific job site location, the sequence of events, and the results of the event
• Whether or not proper PPE was being used
• The root cause(s) of the incident
• Associated hazards raised and resolved following the event
• The affected individual’s version of the events
• Actions taken by concerned individuals after the incident
• Description of injuries
• How the decision was made to call (or not to call) emergency services
• Treatment required
• Photographs of the scene 

Though the details above seem excessive, mentioning them in the incident report paints a more accurate picture. It’s important to include the above information in as detailed and concise a manner as possible. Holes in your report could lead to inferences and missed opportunities to create a safer workplace.

To write an incident report, use a narrative format. In other words, simply tell the story. Here’s an incident report sample description of a slip or fall resulting in a fracture, written in narrative form:

“On Friday afternoon, February 3, 2019, at 2 p.m. in ABC Shipping Co. located in 13th Avenue, Applewood, one of the warehouse workers (John Keegan) slipped and fell while carrying heavy (85 lbs) inventory. The root cause is believed to be the unavailability of a hand truck or pallet jack. Instead of waiting, John attempted carrying the load himself. A second possible cause is the condition of John’s PPE, specifically his boots, which are very worn in certain places.

When John fell, his colleagues rushed to his assistance. Suspecting a fracture, the supervisor on the floor (Kathy Pickens) decided to call 911. John said he felt a bit dizzy when he lost his balance and that he just ‘tripped over his feet.’ He tried to minimize damage to the load itself while falling, which may have led to a more awkward fall.

Two of his co-workers said that they noticed he was struggling a bit before the fall, but were busy with their own tasks and felt it would be rude to ‘call him out.’ See the attached witness statements for more info.

John was taken to a nearby hospital and a fracture to his wrist was confirmed. John will be out of work for a number of weeks.

The supervisor is currently working with the safety officer (Chris Darnell) to assess the condition of the floor, the number and condition of hand trucks and pallet jacks on the floor, as well as the condition of company-provided boots over two years old.”

As you can see, including the full story, complete with small details and witness statements will help you investigate and recall the incident with greater clarity.

After documenting the incident, you may have legal reporting requirements. Report and store the files according to recordkeeping requirements from regulatory bodies. It’s generally best practice to preserve the files for the duration of employment.

Exposure Incident Report Example

When exposure to dangerous chemicals or pathogens occurs, it’s important to document the event carefully in an incident report.

Including the following details will make your exposure incident report more effective:

• Name of affected individual
• Name of Supervisor
• Description of the incident, including specific job site location, sequence of events, and results of the event
• Name of the chemical/pathogen/carcinogen, amount, concentration, and description of hazard labels/safety data sheets (SDS)
• Exposure monitoring data, if available
• Whether or not a contaminated sharp was involved
• Description of injuries, including body part(s) exposed, length of exposure, and size of area exposed
• Signs and symptoms displayed
• Photographs of the scene and hazard labels involved

Here’s an incident report sample description for overexposure via inhalation:

“Josh Lee, a freight handler in XYZ Shipping Lines, was exposed to carbon monoxide fumes on December 2, 2017, Tuesday, from (estimated) 7:30 AM to 11:30 AM. He was at the unloading bay B, helping unload some freight from various containers with the help of two forklift operators: Kit Stevens and Donald Summers, neither of which complained of symptoms.

During unloading, Lee suddenly experienced lightheadedness and nausea. He informed his supervisor (Donna Martin) that he thought he was ill. 

Martin noticed his symptoms were consistent with CO exposure, so she walked over to the area and felt the air quality seemed off. She ran a sensor (Portable Direct Reading Monitor) and discovered that CO levels were on the high end but within the acceptable limit: 30 PPM.

Stevens and Summers were ordered to turn off powered vehicles and sit in fresh air for an hour while the ventilation system could be examined (see attached report). 

Lee was driven to the hospital by Martin to receive treatment. On the way, he complained of blurred vision briefly but said that it had cleared up upon walking into the ER. A full report will be attached once received.

Lee’s colleagues, Stevens and Summers, didn’t notice anything out of the norm with the air quality, but Summers acknowledged that at 11:00 AM, his vehicle had been left running near the open end of a container for thirty minutes while Lee was adjusting two improperly arranged pallets just inside. There is no air quality data from that time.”

Be sure to attach medical reports and lost-time from work, if any, to your initial report. Keep the report on hand for the duration of the employee’s tenure with the company, at a minimum. 

First Aid Incident Report Sample

Some workplace mishaps result in an injury that requires on-site or walk-in medical first aid treatment. Often, workers can return and finish their shift. Recording an incident report is still vitally important, even where it’s not expressly required by regulatory bodies.

Here is an incident report sample description for incidents resulting in the need for first aid. 

“ On May 12, 2019, at around 9:34 AM. at King Street job site, Michael Williams was hit by an air nail gun that had been dropped by Carl Simone near the top of a staircase and gained momentum as it tumbled down. 

Williams, who was nailing drywall at the bottom of the staircase and wearing noise protective headphones, eye protection, and a short-sleeved shirt, was hit in the arm, causing a bruise and abrasion. He was treated with antiseptic, antibiotic ointment, a bandage, and an ice pack on site. Williams returned to work within a half hour. 

Simone had shouted a warning after he dropped the gun, but Williams said he did not hear it. Simone said that he simply lost his grip, but Williams said he felt that the tool may have been ‘swung’ before dropping. There were no other witnesses to report on the circumstances of the accident. 

Simone was wearing gloves when he dropped the nail gun. There are no outstanding hazards related to this incident and all workers will be reminded about glove selection and tool handling at the next safety meeting.”

While you should always document injuries requiring first aid internally, you typically don’t need to add them to your Form 300A or other regulatory reporting. In fact, doing so can needlessly elevate your incident rate.

An Incident Report Template to Improve Your System

Your incident reporting system should allow your employees to easily document all of the information listed in the incident report samples above. If your incident forms are easy to fill out in the field, you’re more likely to capture accurate, timely information. 

With Safesite, you can complete an incident report in six easy steps:

• Tap Log Incident
• Select your inicent report type (injury, near miss, property damage, theft, or equipment failure) and location, date, and time
• Input your incident description and an incident photo
• Tag the person involved and witnesses from your team
• Complete root cause analysis
• Log your incident

Safesite’s incident report form can be filled out on-site via iOS or Android app. It includes places to record the details of the event, images of the scene, and witness statements. It also allows you to raise associated hazards and identify a root cause. 

An incident report can also be completed using paper, but many companies now look to secure software to not only document and store incidents but also to trend problem areas and reveal safety gaps. 

Not ready to go mobile yet? Here’s a paper template you can edit and use in the meantime:

Raising and Resolving Hazards

Many incidents and near misses will involve hazards that could cause immediate or future harm to your employees if not resolved. From tagging and removing damaged equipment from service to safely dismantling corrupted structures, your incident reporting process is not truly complete until you resolve the danger. 

To keep things straightforward, include hazard descriptions and actions on your incident reports. With Safesite, you can create hazards from within an incident report by tapping Add Root Cause Hazard. Then, you’ll be able to alert your team of the hazard in real-time and assign it to someone for resolution. And you can do it without deviating from your incident report.

Tip: Want to streamline hazard management without missing a beat? Check out our guide to faster hazard recognition and resolution .

Go Forth and Report

When writing incident reports, be objective about the details. Your main goal is improving workplace safety, not pointing fingers at who is responsible. The incident report samples provided show that by staying true to the facts, you encourage employee participation in your investigations.

Digital reporting automates part of the process, saving you time and reducing human error. Improve your incident reporting process by using a digital reporting tool, like Safesite , that integrates alerts and hazard resolution in a single place.

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By Team Safesite

We're a group of safety and tech professionals united in our desire to make every workplace safer. We keep a pulse on the latest regulations, standards, and industry trends in safety and write about them here on our blog.

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Incident report provides more details in theft investigation that led to fatal shooting

An incident report provides more details in a theft investigation in Wilmington that culminated in a fatal shooting.

Around 5 p.m. on June 13, 2024, an off-duty detective with the New Hanover County Sheriff's Office spotted a boat and truck matching the description of stolen property that the Wilmington Police Department had been investigating, District Attorney Ben David previously said at a news conference. The suspect, identified as 34-year-old Steven Ryan Todd, was also believed to be in the possession of two stolen firearms.

The detective attempted to stop the suspect, who responded by trying to run over the detective before fleeing the scene, David previously said. This initiated a pursuit involving multiple officers with the Wilmington Police Department that was eventually called off.

Previous Coverage: Suspect dies during officer-involved shooting in Wilmington

Previous Coverage: 911 calls offer more details in officer-involved fatal shooting in Wilmington

Felony warrants were issued for Todd, including charges of assault with a deadly weapon, fleeing to elude arrest, assault on a government official, and possession of a stolen motor vehicle. Local law enforcement agencies were notified that the suspect was "armed and dangerous," David previously said. The public was not notified of a potential threat to public safety.

Later that same evening, detectives from the New Hanover County Sheriff's Office located the vehicle and attempted a traffic stop at the intersection of South Kerr Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard, David previously said. The suspect refused to comply and intentionally collided head-on with a sheriff's vehicle.

Three detectives discharged several rounds into the vehicle, striking the suspect. Todd died on scene as a result of his injuries.

The incident report details that 14 items were reported stolen from a home on Rogersville Road, Wilmington. The report was filed on June 13 at 1:28 p.m. by 43-year-old Joseph Edward Taylor.

In addition to the Ford F-150, boat, and two firearms -- identified as a 9MM Glock 17 and a 12GA Benelli shotgun -- five bicycles, $3,000 of household goods, one trailer, $3,000 of alcoholic beverage, and camping, hunting, and fishing equipment were also reported stolen, according to the incident report.

In total, the stolen items had a value of $95,650, according to the incident report.

The incident is being investigated by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, David previously said. The investigation will determine whether the use of force by officers was justified. Per protocol, the detectives who discharged their weapons on scene were placed on paid administrative leave.

Burning off toxins wasn't needed after East Palestine train derailment, NTSB says

The national transportation safety board said in a report on the 2023 train derailment in east palestine, ohio, that the burn off of toxic chemicals wasn't needed. the agency made recommendations..

AKRON, Ohio — The National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday that burning off chemicals after a Norfolk Southern train derailed in Ohio in 2023 was unnecessary, with an agency official later accusing the company of failing to disclose information to investigators.

Officials intentionally released and burned off toxic vinyl chloride from five derailed cars, sending smoke and chemicals into the air despite the potential health effects. NTSB officials said Tuesday that the train operator and its contractors failed to tell incident commanders that the maker and shipper of the vinyl chloride had said venting and burning the chemicals wasn't needed.

At the end of Tuesday's meeting, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy slammed Norfolk Southern's behavior during the investigation and accused the company of delaying or failing to disclose information to investigators. Twice, Homendy threatened to subpoena the company to get the information they were looking for, she said. Norfolk Southern also attempted to submit its investigation four times.

"Parties are not permitted to manufacture their own evidence," Homendy said, calling Norfolk Southern's attempts to influence the investigation "unprecedented and reprehensible."

She noted a recent meeting with a Norfolk Southern senior executive with her and staff that ended with a "threat." Homendy did not name the executive.

Homendy added that she struggled for days on whether to share what's happened between the NTSB and Norfolk Southern, worried that it might overshadow the agency findings about the East Palestine, Ohio, derailment. She ultimately decided to go public because she said Norfolk-Southern's actions were "unconscionable."

"We are impervious to anything but the truth," Homendy said.

The findings came as NTSB officials returned to East Palestine Tuesday to share findings of their investigation into the calamitous 2023 train derailment and offer recommendations to prevent similar disasters from happening in the future.

In February 2023, a Norfolk Southern train derailed in a tiny Ohio town near the Pennsylvania border. Residents initially watched the fires from the crash and were later evacuated as officials feared a potential hazardous chemical explosion, and they executed the vent and burn.

NTSB officials have said an overheated bearing on one of the railcars likely caused the crash, but questions remained about whether that could have been prevented and whether officials made the right choice to burn off the vinyl chloride. The NTSB recommended Tuesday that Norfolk Southern revise its incident report about the derailment to reflect that the vent and burn of vinyl chloride were not necessary.

The agency listed 47 findings from its investigation, covering everything from rail car bearings and DOT-111 rail car failures to melted placards, and outlined recommendations ranging from creating a nationwide database to track overheated wheel bearings, to increasing training for Ohio volunteer firefighters. The recommendations are not binding, but U.S. lawmakers could act to enforce them.

What caused the bearing to fail?

It was impossible to tell what caused the bearing failure in East Palestine because the fire destroyed the components, according to the NTSB. When asked what causes bearings to fail, NTSB Investigator Joey Rhine said when there's a bearing defect, it causes friction, which leads to heat.

"It's like putting an iron skillet on a stove," Rhine said.

But the bearing that failed was attached to a car that sat in a flooded area for an extended time and water intrusion can also cause bearing failures, Homendy said.

Timken, the manufacturer of the bearing, recommends replacing bearings that sit in floods. There was no evidence this bearing was replaced and, Homendy pointed out, there was no way for Norfolk Southern to know because railroads generally don't own the cars they transport.

Most bearings on freight trains in the U.S. are re-conditioned, according to Rhine, meaning they have only about half the life of new bearings. The NTSB has investigated two other train derailments since East Palestine that also involved a bearing failure, he said. Each bearing that failed was reconditioned and in the same axle position as East Palestine, he said.

When investigators tried to find data to see if this was a larger pattern, they discovered that there isn't a single database. The Association of American Railroads (AAR) maintains a database, but it's broken down by car, not train. The NTSB recommended that AAR create a single database to illuminate patterns in wheel bearing failures across the industry. Bearing failures are the primary cause of U.S. train derailments, the NTSB said.

NTSB recommends tank cars with built-in protections

The fire that began at the East Palestine derailment likely happened when a DOT-111 type of train car was punctured, the NTSB said, "spilling fire" onto a 1,100-foot section of track. NTSB member Michael Graham said the breach of those DOT-111s in East Palestine "led to the large, raging fire" that overwhelmed firefighters and ultimately led to the vent and burn.

DOT-111 cars are susceptible to breaching and are due to be phased out for carrying flammable material after May 2029. The NTSB recommended mandating an accelerated phase-out. Flammable and hazardous materials should instead be carried in tank cars with more built-in protections, the board said.

But the scheduled phase-out of the DOT-111 in 2029 will not take this rail car off of America's rail lines. Veteran NTSB Inspector Paul Stancil said that two of the three DOT-111 cars that were part of the East Palestine derailment would still be allowed to carry the same material after 2029.

The NTSB has been raising safety concerns about the DOT-111 rail car since 1991, Homendy said. It recommended changes to the car's construction at least twice. A train with the cars derailed in 2013 in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, unleashing a flood of oil and 47 people died, Stancil said.

"An entire town was literally decimated," Homendy said, noting that 25,300 DOT-111 rail cars are still in service today. "People are dying."

Homendy pointed out that shippers own the rail cars and it's up to them to get rid of them. She also noted that railroads are required to carry hazardous materials.

At least five different chemicals were carried in the train cars that derailed in East Palestine, according to a letter from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to Norfolk Southern. The chemicals included vinyl chloride, butyl acrylate, ethylhexyl acrylate, ethylene glycol monobutyl ether and isobutylene.

Vinyl chloride, which is a chemical used to make PVC pipes, is considered a carcinogen. Exposure to vinyl chloride is associated with an increased risk of a rare form of liver cancer as well as brain and lung cancers.

Burning it, which was part of the controlled release, creates the toxic gas phosgene and hydrogen chloride. The gas was used as a weapon during World War I.

In the days following the train derailment in East Palestine , a group of investigators fell ill while looking into the chemical exposure of residents.

NTSB member Thomas Chapman said he and other members continue to be "mystified" that the American railroad industry, unlike the airline and other transportation industries, continues to largely regulate itself.

NTSB says Norfolk Southern failed to disclose key information

NTSB member Michael Graham said when the decision was made to vent rail cars and burn off toxins, what no one knew, including the incident commander, was that there was disagreement over whether the vent and burn should happen.

The temperatures in the tanks were dropping, not rising, which means the immediate risk was not as great, investigators said. It's not clear why, but Norfolk Southern contractors continued to urge a vent and burn, Stancil said. Norfolk Southern, he said, didn't reveal the declining temperature readings to NTSB until two months afterward.

The NTSB investigation showed that local officials made decisions based on incomplete information provided by Norfolk Southern contractors. Those contractors failed to disclose that technical experts for the company that made the chemicals disagreed with their recommendation, saying no vent and burn was required.

Ohio Gov. DeWine sent out a statement before the toxic burnoff reflecting what Norfolk Southern contractors were telling officials about the dangers at the time. Officials believed at the time that there was a danger chemical reaction would turn tanker cars into exploding bombs, sending deadly shrapnel and hazardous fumes across the areas. People in Ohio and Pennsylvania evacuated the area, many fearing for their lives and safety.

NTSB calls for increased firefighter training, updating placards on tankers

Quickly finding out what hazardous chemicals are on derailed trains in the U.S. is a chronic, recurring problem that's stretches over decades, NTSB members and agency investigators said. In East Palestine, dispatchers called the Norfolk Southern dispatch center in Atlanta to find out what the train was carrying within minutes of the derailment. Norfolk Southern said it would call back, but there's no evidence it ever did, according to NTSB investigator Troy Lloyd. Meanwhile, placards on the rail cars were melted or missing.

One simple change NTSB recommended is updating the standard for placards displayed on tankers showing what hazardous materials they are carrying. The NTSB said the placards now must only be able to withstand weather for 30 days. There are no mandates about the placards standing up to derailments or fires. The NTSB showed missing and damaged placards caused by the East Palestine derailment.

Stancil added that the railroads shouldn't wait for first responders to reach out to them after a derailment. He said the railroads' first call should be to the 911 dispatch center in the area where a train derails, so first responders know what the train is carrying.

Additionally, none of the local volunteer firefighters had hazardous materials training. Two weeks before the East Palestine train derailment, the state of Ohio published a report that said, in part, that the 36 hours of training mandated for volunteer firefighters in the state was an outdated model.

Instead of setting up a command post a 1/2 mile away, as recommended in such cases, firefighters initially set up inside the "danger zone," 400 or 500 feet from burning rail cars without knowing what was in them.

“It's really fortunate that one of the volunteer firefighters from that department was also a chemistry teacher” who evaluated some of the dangers, Homenday said. It wasn't ideal, she said, but it was the "best immediate guidance" first responders had as they rushed to East Palestine from 48 area departments.

The NTSB recommended increasing training for Ohio volunteer firefighters, who often face the same hazardous situations as professionally-trained career firefighters.

NTSB officials pointed across the state line to Pennsylvania, which mandates and funds additional training for volunteers. Time and money is an issue with volunteers, Lloyd said. Hazardous material training can also cost $2,000 per firefighter, plus another $25,000 per firefighter for necessary hazardous response gear. Some states, he said, are now offering incentives to volunteer firefighters, including tax breaks.

Contributing: Max Filby, Columbus Dispatch  

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Preliminary NTSB report reveals what led to deadly midair crop-duster collision in West Texas

A preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board released Wednesday revealed what happened in the moments leading up to the deadly midair collision of two crop-duster airplanes last month near Whiteface.

The report comes about three weeks after the June 14 crash in Cochran County that left Philip Joseph Kitten dead and Jeremy Deshawn Williams seriously injured.

When the crash occurred, Kitten and Williams were each piloting an Air Tractor model AT-502B plane for King Ag Aviation, Inc. out of Sudan, according to the NTSB report and other public records. The pilots were spraying a cotton field about 5 miles northwest of Whiteface in rural Cochran County when the two planes collided midair over the field at about 8:40 a.m.

More: Officials ID pilots in deadly West Texas crop duster plane crash

Kitten was pronounced dead on the scene, and Williams was taken to Covenant Hospital in Levelland, the Avalanche-Journal previously reported .

The NTSB report did not directly identify the pilots, but the two men were previously identified by Texas Department of Public Safety officials.

According to the report, Williams planned to spray the corners of the field while Kitten sprayed the center circle. The pilots planned for Kitten to be the "low man" and Williams to be the "high man," according to the report. The document did not elaborate further on the pilots' plans.

Williams said he was making a spray pass from north to south when Kitten began to climb into Williams' flight path, the report states. Williams told investigators he "yanked and banked to the right" in an effort to avoid the crash.

Investigators found Kitten's plane upside-down with a portion of the fuselage separated several feet away from the rest of the aircraft. The plane caught fire on the ground and was substantially damaged, the report notes.

Williams' aircraft was also substantially damaged but did not catch fire, investigators determined. It was found on its side about 400 feet to the east of Kitten's plane.

The NTSB report says investigators found wreckage from the two planes scattered over a 700-foot-by-400-foot area over the field they were spraying and an adjacent field to the south.

Investigators took the wreckage "to a secure location for further examination" and were able to recover GPS guidance systems from each of the aircraft. Those computers were sent to an NTSB lab for data analysis.

The Federal Aviation Administration, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada and officials from the Air Tractor headquarters in Olney are assisting with the investigation, which is ongoing. A final report is expected at a later date.

What’s new in the MSRC Report Abuse Portal and API

The Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) has always been at the forefront of addressing cyber threats, privacy issues, and abuse arising from Microsoft Online Services. Building on our commitment, we have introduced several key updates to the Report Abuse Portal and API , which will significantly improve the way we handle and respond to abuse reports.

Reporting Suspicious OAuth Application

Based on the recent rise in malicious apps, attacker trends, and customer feedback, we realized the need to provide the option to report malicious OAuth applications. We are excited to announce a new feature in the MSRC Reporting Portal and the supporting API that allows the reporting of suspicious OAuth applications registered in Entra ID. This enhancement is aimed at streamlining the investigation process and enabling a quicker and more precise response to customer reports, including improving our detections of malicious applications. The step-by-step guidance for reporting apps is provided later in this blog post .  

Reporting Multiple IPs and URLs in a Single Incident

A common concern from this community has been the inability to report multiple related IPs or URLs in a single abuse report, often resulting in the need to submit multiple reports for the same incident. We have addressed this issue by updating the Abuse Portal to allow reporting of up to 10 IPs and URLs for the same abuse type in one report. The API has also been updated to support this feature without any restrictions on the number, which is particularly beneficial in cases like DDoS attacks. The step-by-step guidance for this is provided later in this blog post.

Summary of incident types that can be reported via the Portal and the API

IP Address Threats

a. Brute Force

b. Denial of Service

URL-related threats

c. Responsible AI

d. Phishing Website

Security Threats

a. Vulnerability

OAuth Applications (new)

a. Fraudulent Publisher

b. Suspicious Apps

c. Misuse of Data

Community Gallery

a. Malicious Artifact

b. Malicious Text or URL

b. Outlook Spam

c. Tech Support

d. Subpoena

e. Unsafe site or URL

f. Infringement

g. Bing Bot

How to report Suspicious OAuth Applications

There are three categories of incident types available here:

• Fraudulent Publisher - an OAuth App’s publisher or developer appears to be fraudulent or seems to be impersonating an authentic publisher.
• Suspicious App - an OAuth App is misrepresenting its identity for fraudulent purposes, including impersonating a legitimate app to mislead users or being used in another abusive way.
• Misuse of Data - a legitimate OAuth App from a legitimate publisher is mishandling or abusing access to data in a way that violates the terms of a service agreement.

Fill in the associated form to provide the incident details:

• Application ID (or client ID, GUID that globally identifies the application in Entra ID )
• Incident Date (when you encountered the suspicious app)
• Reason for reporting (above three categories)
• Additional details that can help us understand the issue better (be as descriptive as possible, such as where you encountered the suspicious app and why you think it’s suspicious)

How to add multiple IPs and URLs to a single report

This option can be leveraged when you would like to report multiple entities associated with the same incident or incident type. This cannot be used to report multiple incident types in the same report. Doing so will result in an incorrect report which can be non-actionable.  

Select the incident type you would like to report. This option is available for the following incident types:

While the rest of the form remains the same, you will notice the option to add more IPs and URLs to the report depending on the incident type. You can add up to 10 at a time in a report using the portal. If you need to report more, please use the API.  

Report Abuse API Endpoint

The API can be reached at https://api.msrc.microsoft.com/report/v3.0/swagger/v2/swagger.json

Looking ahead

The MSRC engineering team’s significant investments in the Abuse Report Portal and API reflect our ongoing dedication to security and customer satisfaction. We are committed to continuous improvement and are already exploring further enhancements to ensure that MSRC remains a leader in responding to online threats.

We encourage our community to use these new features and provide feedback, which is invaluable in our quest to safeguard Microsoft Online Services.

Questions or feedback?

For questions or feedback, please either contact us at [email protected] or share your thoughts at https://aka.ms/msrc-report-abuse-feedback .

Neha Arora, Senior Product Manager, Microsoft Security Response Center

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