Workplace Incident Report

A workplace incident report goes wrong most often by mixing two things that should stay apart. What happened, and why it happened.

The report is a factual record. Date, time, location, who was involved and who witnessed it, what was being done, what occurred, what injury or damage resulted, and what was done immediately afterwards.

What does not belong in it is conclusion. He was not paying attention. She should have used the trolley. Human error. Those are assessments, usually made within minutes, and once written they shape the investigation that follows and close off the more useful questions.

Cause belongs in the investigation, after the facts have been gathered by someone with time to do it. Keeping the two separate also makes the record far more defensible later.

Safe Work Australia covers record duties. This is general information rather than legal advice, and obligations vary by state and territory.

See Sentrient’s incident reporting software and records management software.