Writing an Incident Report

If something unexpected or unpleasant happens in your area or college, you should tell
someone in authority. The best way to do this is to write an account of what happened,
from your own point of view. This is called an incident report.

Things to remember when writing an incident report:

Detail: Include all the relevant details that you can remember clearly – imagine that the
reader doesn’t know anything about the event.
Accuracy: Don’t make anything up – if you are not sure on the details then don’t just use
your imagination. Only write down things that you actually saw or heard.
Order: Write your report in a sensible time order from beginning to end. This makes it much
easier to follow for the reader.
Language: This is a formal piece of writing so remember to use good grammar and
appropriate vocabulary.
Tone: Be neutral and factual: don’t use loaded or judgemental language such as insults.

Planning an incident report

Make sure you know what you’re going to write before you start! Think about:
When: what time did the incident take place? If you don’t know exactly, then just roughly:
was it in the morning? After lunch?
Where: where were you when the incident took place? Be specific: ‘by the sofa in the quiet
room’ is much better than ‘at SHIFT’.
Who: who was there? If there were people you don’t know, describe them in detail.

What: Describe clearly what happened, in a logical time order.

 Example Incident Report

Plan
When: yesterday after lunch, probably about 1:25pm
Where: in front of the Workstation by the front door
Who: myself: two unknown people: a male a female, wearing suits
What: they rushed through the door passed me, pushed me over, I
fell and smashed my drink bottle, cut my hand.

Following are three example incident reports, all for the same
incident.
1. Read the plan above, and then decide which of the reports is
better.

2. For the other two reports, what is not good about them?
 Today’s Date: 12th August 2015
Reported by: Annie Mishap
Date of the Incident: 11th August 2015
1 I was on my way back from lunchbreak yesterday at around 1:25. I was holding a soft drink
in a glass bottle. As I approached the front door of the Workstation, two adults ran out of
the door: one male and one female, both of average height and build, and both dressed in
formal business suits. They pushed past me, knocking me over. As I fell, my bottle smashed
on the ground and I cut my hand on the glass. The two people did not stop or look back at
me. I came back to SHIFT and washed my hand in the sink.
Signed: A.Mishap

Today’s Date: 12th August 2015

2 Reported by: Annie Mishap
Date of the Incident: 11th August 2015
There must have been a hold-up or something like that. Two idiots just ran right into me and
knocked me over, they didn’t even apologise! I got glass in my hand because of them, and
there was so much blood. I hope the police are going to catch them after what they did to
me!
Signed: A.Mishap

Today’s Date: 12th August 2015

3 Reported by: Annie Mishap
Date of the Incident: 11th August 2015
I went out for lunch with my friend, but she had an appointment so I had to come back to
SHIFT by myself. I had bought a bottle of coke in a glass bottle because it was on offer. When
I got back to SHIFT some bankers were running about and they attacked me. Sadly the bottle
got smashed when I fell over and it really hurt my hand.
Signed: A.Mishap
Now write your own incident report. For this exercise this can be something made up – use
your imagination! Remember to plan it carefully and to include all the relevant and
important details.
Plan:

Incident Report
Today’s Date:
Reported by:
Date of the Incident:

Signed: