What is an incident report?

When one is written

Injuries, vehicle damage, break-ins and attempts, vandalism, fights and threats, trespass warnings issued, fire alarms and fire watch findings, medical calls, lost children, water leaks found on a round, any contact with police, fire or EMS, and any use of force however slight. The threshold is deliberately low: an unnecessary report costs ten minutes; a missing one costs an argument months later.

What a good one contains

A header with the property, the post, the date and time of the event and the time the report was written. A narrative in sequence, in plain words, without opinion about fault: what the officer saw and heard, in the order it happened. People identified by name where known and by description where not. Witnesses with contact details. Actions taken with times: when police were called, when the manager was texted, when the area was secured. Notifications made. Attachments noted: photographs, the camera and time stamp that captured the event, a copy of a trespass notice.

How it is reviewed and used

The officer signs it, a supervisor reviews it the same day and the client receives it, with a line in the daily activity report pointing to it. Insurance adjusters, police officers and attorneys read incident reports, and they all want the same thing: a factual account written close to the event by someone who was there. Adjectives weaken it; times, names and photographs strengthen it.

The template

The incident report template is the structure Price Protection officers use, and it is free to adopt for in-house staff. The incident reports article shows a manager what to expect and what to do with one.