Free Incident Report Templates in MS Word

Here is our collection of Free Incident Report Templates in MS Word Format to assist you in the process of creating your Incident Report easily. You can also check out our collection of Project Status Report Templates here.

Life is unpredictable and although in the day to day life, we have made peace with this element of uncertainty, companies and organizations prefer not to leave things to chance. Instead, they take action and implement useful policies to keep operations going smoothly in a predefined manner. Rules and regulations in a company do help to minimize unpleasant occasions i.e. accidents and violation of the policies but it does occur from time to time. Either it’s just an accident with unintentional circumstances or someone deliberately misuses company property. In case something does happen, organizations have incident reports that allow them to reach the root cause of the problem, understand who did it, how they can stop it from happening in the future, and most importantly, estimate the damage done to the office property or an employee.

Using Incident Report Templates:

Organizations are based on rules and regulations imposed by local government. One crucial aspect of these regulations is providing a safe working environment for the employees. Incidents that may include an altercation between two employees leading to physical injuries, damage to office property, misuse of the property, theft, or harassment of any kind are to be reported by the HR department with an incident report. This incident report must be drawn up without delay. Statements of the persons involved in the incident, as well as the witnesses who may provide important information, will be part of this report.

An incident report will give the HR department and the compliance department the necessary details about what occurred and how it transpired. For instance, there was a fire in the office kitchen. While all the employees got out of the building safely, the kitchen was absolutely gutted with all the equipment. It was also observed that the employees did not know the emergency exit and took quite some time unwisely exiting the building. Herein, the compliance department will undertake the investigation and prepare a report on the matters leading to the fire incident. They will have a look into the fact that some employees put metal utensils in the microwave, which in turn caused the fire.

Because the wires in the kitchen were poorly insulated, the fire quickly blazed. There were no fire alarms or water sprinklers installed in the kitchen which could have covered the fire without further damage. Additionally, the employees were never given proper evacuation training and they didn’t know which exit to use and why it was important to allow the female and elderly office employees to evacuate first. Once the full report is completed, the compliance department can evaluate if it was an accident or if someone intentionally damaged office property. They will also be able to make sure that this kind of incident doesn’t occur in the future with the installation of smoke detectors in all corners and water sprinklers. Employees will also receive their emergency evacuation training after the incident so if this somehow happens again in the future, workers will keep calm and handle the situation more professionally.

Download Free Incident Report Templates

Here is the Free Incident Report Template in MS Word format to help you understand and prepare your Incident Report easily.

 

Common Market Practices of Incident Reports:

Make sure the Report is Accurate:

You would be surprised by how many of these incident reports are filed with errors and mistakes that could have easily been avoided if the person preparing the report knew what he was doing. While preparing an accident report, always remember that this is your chance to understand what actually happened. The crucial part here is to submit the true series of events with all the correct facts and figures. Lastly, proofread the report to check for typos or grammatical errors.

Include more Facts and Figures:

When you are preparing an incident report, especially if includes an injured employee, it is easy to get sentimental and take sides. This is what you need to avoid. This report should portray both sides of the story without favoring any particular side. You just need to write about what happened, when it happened, and how it happened. During report-making, people who are directly involved in the incident will be interviewed as well as the witnesses and the ones who reported the incident. There shouldn’t be any statements from those people but you should quote what you heard.

Add Graphical Elements i.e. Photos and Videos:

If you have prepared an incident report before, you can understand how important it is to record every part of the report and we are not just talking about written statements and investigation but visual elements are also important. The investigator should be able to take as many as possible photos of the incident i.e. damage to the office property or injuries to an employee along with the area surrounding the part where the incident happened. Include all of these photos and videos in the report to make it easy to understand for the evaluation committee.

Validation is an Important Part of Incident Reports:

The person should be requested to give their testimony to ensure that they are telling the truth. The power to refuse to testify should be given to employees who were directly involved in the incident, witnesses who viewed the incident, and those who reported the incident. All of them should be required to sign an affidavit or an affidavit-like declaration to the effect that they have told the truth or, at the very least, go on record as giving their statements should the need arise.

Provide a Conclusion at the End:

There is an investigator who can better appreciate an incident. While ensuring that a report is complete and ready for submission, one must add a brief statement that touches upon the summary of what happened, the actions that caused the incident, and the possible preventive measures to avoid its recurrence.