Published 26 Jun 2025
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3 min read
What is an Employee Incident Report?
An employee incident report is a form that is used to document and report instances of accidents, injuries, illness, property damage, exposure to hazardous substances, and any other incidents that occur in the workplace. It contains crucial information that details major events, especially when employees are involved. This report is also used for recording employee policy violations and misuse of company property.
Why Should You Use It to Report An Incident?
The number of workers injured in the workplace remains unchanged. Around 2.8 full-time employees per 100 workers are injured for the year 2019 according to the US Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS). While OSHA stated that for every 100,000 workers, 3.5 full-time employees died while at work in 2019. 20% of the fatalities came from the construction industry. Employee incident report forms can help lessen these incidents from happening and prevent a person from becoming just another statistic.
Documentation of events such as employee incidents is important to the business and its employees. The employees can utilize the incident report forms to express what happened in their own words and describe the situations surrounding incidents from their perspective. This helps employers gather information that can be used to help prevent similar incidents from occurring and take corrective actions to improve worksite safety.
Having an employee incident report ready can help a business mitigate the costly and negative impact of incidents. Insurance companies require businesses to have an incident audit for insurance claims while regulatory bodies will ensure that the business is complying with health and safety laws.
When Should You Use It?
An employee incident report form should be filled out immediately after the incident. This helps employees recall the events easier and ensures that the details are fresh and properly documented. Also, please note that all employers are required to notify OSHA of incidents within 8 hours if it resulted in fatalities and within 24 hours if it involved hospitalization, amputation, or eye loss.
How to Write an Employee Incident Report?
The employee incident report form has to be truthful, detailed, and relevant. Only include information that is important to keep it concise. Here are the steps on how to create your very own employee incident report form.
Gather employee information such as name, job, date of report, and location.
Include important reminders such as specific instructions.
Write your job description.
Input the date and time of the incident.
Describe the incident or near miss in detail.
Disclose whether there were injuries and damages to company property.
Recall what caused the incident.
Include pictures of the incident.
Suggest what actions can prevent future incidents.
Submit to your manager or supervisor.
What to Include in an Employee Incident Report Template?
An employee incident report template should outline key important details for users/inspectors to check that are required by law depending on the worksite location. Here are some key important items to include in your template:
Basic Info: Date, time, location, people involved, reporter details
Incident Details: What happened, how, contributing factors
Injuries/Damages: Description, treatment, property damage
Witnesses: Names, contacts, statements
Causes: Root and contributing factors
Follow-Up: Actions taken, recommendations, notifications
Signatures: Reporter, witnesses, supervisors, reviewers with dates
Employee Incident Report Template Sample Report | SafetyCulture
