Incident report template (accidents and near misses)

What's in the template

How to fill it in

1. Start Part 1 the same day, once the person is cared for and the area is safe, with the person involved if they're able.
2. Describe, don't judge. "Stepped back off the second rung; the ladder's feet slid on the wet floor" helps an investigation. "Careless" doesn't, and it puts the next person off reporting.
3. Record the injury precisely (body part, side, treatment) without guessing at a diagnosis. Take witness accounts separately and soon, and photograph the scene before anything moves.
4. Check the reporting rules below on the day. Some deadlines run in hours.
5. Investigate near misses too. Update your risk assessment, and run a full root cause analysis for anything serious or repeated.

UK: what RIDDOR requires

Under RIDDOR, employers and others in control of work premises must report certain work-related incidents to HSE or the local authority, and keep records. HSE lists these as reportable:

• Deaths of anyone, worker or not, resulting from a work-related accident.
• Specified injuries to workers, such as fractures (other than to fingers, thumbs and toes), amputations and serious burns.
• Over-7-day injuries: a worker off work, or unable to do their normal duties, for more than 7 consecutive days.
• Injuries to non-workers, such as customers or visitors, taken straight from the scene to hospital for treatment.
• Certain occupational diseases, and dangerous occurrences: listed events with a high potential to cause death or serious injury, such as the collapse of lifting equipment.

Deadlines: deaths, specified injuries, non-worker injuries and dangerous occurrences must be reported without delay and reach HSE within 10 days; over-7-day injuries within 15 days. Report online; the phone line (0345 300 9923) takes fatal and specified injuries only. Over-3-day injuries are recorded, not reported, and an accident book entry is enough. Keep RIDDOR records for at least three years. As HSE notes, whether an accident is reportable doesn't depend on anyone being to blame.

US: OSHA recordkeeping and reporting

• Recording: many employers with more than 10 employees must record work-related injuries and illnesses on OSHA Forms 300 (the log), 300A (the annual summary) and 301 (the incident report), or equivalents. Some industries are partially exempt.
• Timing: enter each recordable case on the log, and complete a 301, within 7 calendar days of learning of it. Post the 300A from 1 February to 30 April.
• Retention: five years after the end of the calendar year the records cover.
• Severe injuries: all employers under OSHA's jurisdiction, even those exempt from keeping records, must report a work-related death within 8 hours, and an in-patient hospitalisation, amputation or loss of an eye within 24 hours.

An equivalent to Form 301 must hold the same information, so check the template's Form 301 box against the official form before relying on it. States with their own OSHA-approved plans may set different rules. None of this is legal advice; the official pages below have the detail.

Example: a cut hand at a fictional builders' merchant

Key entries from a fictional 45-person UK builders' merchant:

Common mistakes

• Writing it up days later, after witnesses have compared stories and the scene has been tidied.
• Miscounting the RIDDOR 7 days. Weekends and rest days count; the day of the accident doesn't.
• "Staff reminded to take care" as the only action.
• Reports anyone can open, when they hold health details.