How to write an accident investigation report

Accident investigation report is an important tool to safeguard the information relating to the accident and also help in collection of all important information during accident investigation. The accident report form can be of any format or type which purpose is to record the investigation data. The form can be a standard from of any health and safety professional body or it can be develop or customize according to your own organization requirements and operations.

Although accident report is as essential tool for preservation of accident investigation but also it is a requirement in some countries as legal bindings and on the other side some insurance companies also some time request for the accident investigation report.

In this article we will discussed the important seven sections of accident investigation report with help of a standard template.

Section # 1 Specific Details

Specific details of accident investigation report is composed of name organization, department, Date and time of accident and name of person who wrote this report. Few important guidelines for this part are as under;

• Always number the investigation report to differentiate the latest report from older ones
• Date must be in an approved format e.g. August 6, 2020
• Time must be in 24 Hrs. format to avoid any discrepancy between PM & AM e.g. 14:00 instead of 02:00 PM
• Report date can be different from accident date there for be sure while writing report date

Section # 2 Damage/Injury/Lose details

The Damage details part composed of list(s) that is based on the investigation team assessment. It contains the details of property damage, process losses and injury details (if any). This part of report is very important for management understanding and further actions to recover if any critical damage is resulted due to accident.

Section # 3 Description of Accident

Description of the accident is the lengthiest part of the accident report, it composed of the chronological facts, statement and actions of all stakeholder. The description must be very articulate simple and composed. The description can be make more responsive by taking care of below important points;

• Use simple and active voice to tell the accident story
• Use facts and avoid assumptions
• Don’t use open statements
• Don’t conclude investigation in description
• Don’t include causes in description
• Don’t include actions or control measures in description

Section # 4 Causes of Accident

The most important part of investigation report is the Cases part because it tells about how and why this accident happened. The causes must be mention after through investigation and all causes must be back with evidences and logic. The initial investigation report which is due in 24 Hrs. of accident the causes are only immediate causes which can be further deepen in final accident investigation report.

The type of causes can be as under;

• Immediate causes or surface causes
• Underlying causes
• Root cases
• Contributing causes

Section # 5 Corrective Measures

Corrective measure section provide a detail action plan includes specific actions which help in recovery of the operation and stop recurrence of the accident in future, time lines and responsibility of the stakeholder. The action section can be make more effective by considering following important factors;

• Critical actions must be first priority
• The timelines must be realistic
• Responsibilities must be delegate after taking consent of action doer
• Action section must have follow-up date to ensure all control measures implementation

Section # 6 Investigation Team details and Signatures

This section contains details of the professionals who are involved in investigation process and their signature which shows a collective ownership of the report. Along with investigation team details, the details of management team is also mentioned here to further strengthen the report and its findings. Without management review or endorsement the report is considered partially completed. The accident investigation report from is closed with review date at the bottom of the report form.

Section # 7 Annexures

The Annexures part is the last investigation report and this section help the management and other stakeholder to further probe into the accident details in order to take decision making and further action. The important element of annexure part can be listed as below;

• Snaps and videos of accident location
• Statements (Eyewitness, Victim)
• Legal notices
• Damage Assessments details
• Any other important Document relevant to the accident investigation

Free Editable Accident investigation Template can be download here 👇

Incident Or Accident Report

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