What is an incident report?
An incident report is a written, factual record of a workplace event that hurt someone, could have hurt someone, or damaged property or the environment. It records what happened, when and where, who was involved, the injury or damage, the immediate actions and the witnesses, so the event can be investigated, notified to the regulator where required and prevented from recurring.
The form below is the template for writing one.
The incident report form
Choose your region and the form shows the fields its rules expect. Copy or print it; fill every field, and write "not known" rather than leaving a gap.
North America (US OSHA). Based on OSHA Form 301, the Injury and Illness Incident Report US employers complete for each recordable case, plus the near-miss and follow-up fields good practice adds. In Canada, use your province's workers' compensation form and rules.
| Section | Field | Entry |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Incident type | Injury · Illness · Near miss · Property or equipment damage · Environmental release · Other · Recordable on the OSHA 300 Log? · 300 Log case number | |
| 2. Employee | Full name · Street address · Date of birth · Date hired · Sex · Job title · Employee, temporary worker or contractor | |
| 3. Treatment | Physician or other health care professional · Facility where treatment was given, if away from the worksite · Treated in an emergency room? · Hospitalized overnight as an in-patient? | |
| 4. When and where | Date of injury or illness · Time the employee began work · Time of event · Establishment and exact area | |
| 5. Before the incident | What the employee was doing just before: the activity, tools, equipment or material being used | |
| 6. What happened | How the injury or illness occurred, in sequence | |
| 7. Injury or illness | Part of the body affected and how it was affected, e.g. "strained lower back" | |
| 8. Object or substance | What directly harmed the employee, e.g. a forklift, a chemical, a radial saw | |
| 9. Outcome | Death (date of death) · Days away from work · Days on job transfer or restriction | |
| 10. Immediate actions and evidence | First aid given · Area made safe · Equipment locked out · Witness names · Photos and documents | |
| 11. Severe injury reporting | Fatality, in-patient hospitalization, amputation or loss of an eye? · Reported to OSHA by, when, reference | |
| 12. Actions and sign-off | Investigation level · Corrective actions, owner, due date · Completed by: name, title, phone, date |
What US OSHA expects
- Complete the incident report (Form 301 or an equivalent) within 7 calendar days of learning that a recordable injury or illness happened.
- Report a work-related fatality to OSHA within 8 hours, and an in-patient hospitalization, amputation or loss of an eye within 24 hours.
- Keep Form 301, the 300 Log and the 300A annual summary for 5 years, and post the 300A summary from 1 February to 30 April.
Source: OSHA — Injury and illness recordkeeping forms (300, 300A, 301). Check your regulator's current rules.
Sample incident report
A worked example of a completed incident report from a food manufacturing site (details anonymised).
| Section | Entry |
|---|---|
| Incident type | Injury (laceration) |
| When and where | 12 Aug · 10:40 · Day shift · Packing hall, Line 3 case erector · Clearing a carton jam |
| People involved | Packing operator, employee, four months on the line · Supervisor: Line 3 team leader |
| What happened | The case erector stopped with a carton jammed in the folding section. The operator opened the side guard, which was not interlocked, and reached in to free the carton without isolating the machine. When the carton came free the folding arm cycled and the operator's right hand struck the edge of the flap knife. |
| Injury or damage | 3 cm cut to the back of the right hand · First aid on site, then three stitches at the local medical centre · Returned to restricted duties the next day · No equipment damage |
| Immediate actions | First aid by the trained first aider at 10:42 · Machine isolated and tagged out · Area cordoned · Team leader and safety adviser told at 10:45 |
| Witnesses and evidence | Line 3 palletiser operator saw the event · Photos of the open guard and jam point · Jam log shows 14 jams on this machine in the past week |
| Severity and notification | Actual: medical treatment injury · Potential: serious hand injury · Not notifiable (no hospital admission) |
| Immediate cause | Hand entered the folding section while the machine was energised; side guard opened without stopping the machine |
| Actions and follow-up | Five whys at the Line 3 huddle the same day; actions: fit an interlock to the side guard (maintenance, 19 Aug); add jam clearing to the isolation procedure (safety adviser, 16 Aug); investigate the carton supply causing jams (quality, 26 Aug) |
| Sign-off | Reported by team leader 12 Aug 11:30 · Reviewed by safety adviser 12 Aug · Closed 2 Sep after the interlock was tested and no jams for two weeks |
How do you write an incident report?
Write in plain, factual language, in the order things happened. Describe what you saw and heard, not what you think caused it.
- Name equipment and places so a stranger could find them: "Line 3 case erector, folding section", not "the machine".
- Quote what people said, if it matters.
- Record times, measurements and conditions (lighting, floor, weather).
- Write "not known" where you do not know; do not guess.
- Leave blame out. "Operator error" is not a cause; it is where the investigation starts.
Which incidents need reporting?
Every injury, illness, near miss and damage event should be reported internally, however minor. Near misses matter most for prevention: the conditions that produced a near miss today can produce an injury tomorrow.
Some events must also be reported to the regulator, and the rules depend on where you work:
| Region | What must be reported | Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| United States (OSHA) | Fatality · In-patient hospitalization, amputation or loss of an eye | 8 hours · 24 hours |
| European Union | Accidents causing more than three working days' absence, as national law requires | Set by each country |
| United Kingdom (RIDDOR) | Deaths and specified injuries · Over-seven-day injuries | Without delay · 15 days |
| Australia (WHS) | Death, serious injury or illness, or dangerous incident; site left undisturbed | Immediately |
| New Zealand | Notifiable events to WorkSafe | As soon as possible |
The form above changes its notification fields to match the region you choose. Check your own regulator's current rules.
What happens after an incident report is submitted?
- The supervisor reviews it the same shift and confirms the area is safe.
- Actual and potential severity set the investigation level: five whys at the huddle for low-potential events, a structured investigation such as ICAM for serious ones.
- Corrective actions are chosen using the hierarchy of control, with owners and dates.
- Actions are tracked to completion and checked for effectiveness.
- The lesson is shared with other shifts and sites that have the same hazard.
Common mistakes
- Reports written days later from memory.
- Descriptions so vague nobody could find the place or the hazard.
- Near misses not reported because "nobody was hurt".
- Forms filed with no actions, or actions with no owner.
- Paper forms that sit in a tray until the end of the month.
Step by step
- Make safe and give first aid. Treat the injured, isolate the hazard and preserve the scene before writing anything.
- Record the facts. Type, date, time, exact location, people involved and a factual sequence of events.
- Capture evidence. Photos, measurements, witness names and the documents for the task (permit, JSA, procedure).
- Rate severity and notify. Record actual and potential severity and notify the regulator where the event is notifiable.
- Assign follow-up. Set the investigation level and record corrective actions with owners and due dates.
- Review and close. Supervisor and safety review, then close only once the actions are verified as effective.
A worked example
A dairy processing site in Victoria moved its incident reports from a paper book in the safety office to a form operators could fill in on a tablet at the line. Reports went from about six a month, almost all injuries, to more than forty, most of them near misses. The weekly safety review stopped arguing about what happened and started closing actions: guarding on two fillers, a changed wash-down sequence and a forklift exclusion zone all came from near-miss reports.