Incident report template

An incident report records what happened, who and what was affected, the timeline, the root cause, the actions taken and the steps that will stop it happening again. This template suits workplace accidents and near misses, IT outages, security events, customer complaints and site incidents, and the AI turns notes from the people involved into a clear, factual report.

Template

Incident report (document): Document an incident clearly: what happened, impact, timeline, root cause, actions taken and steps to prevent it.

How to use this template

Write down the facts as soon as possible: times, places, people involved, witnesses and what was done immediately. Memories fade within days.
Open the template, paste those notes and ask the AI to "write this up as a factual incident report with a timeline".
Work out the root cause with the people involved: ask why the trigger was possible, not only what the trigger was.
Give each prevention step an owner and a date, have a manager review the report, and file it with your other records.

Writing a useful incident report

Stick to facts you can support: what was seen, heard and measured. Mark opinions and estimates as such.
Use exact times and a single time zone in the timeline, especially for outages that span teams.
Focus on systems and processes, not blame. People report incidents more openly when reports are about fixing causes.
Separate immediate actions, which stopped the harm, from prevention, which stops it happening again.
Some incidents carry legal reporting duties, such as certain workplace injuries under RIDDOR in Great Britain, OSHA recordkeeping in the US, and personal data breaches under data protection law. This template is for your internal record and does not replace those reports.
Follow up on the due dates to check that the prevention steps were actually done.

Frequently asked questions

What should an incident report include?

When and where it happened, who reported it, a summary, the impact, a timeline, the root cause, the actions taken, prevention steps with owners and dates, and any witnesses.

Should near misses be reported?

Yes. A near miss is an event where nobody was hurt and nothing was damaged, but could have been. Recording them reveals patterns before a real accident happens.

Who should write the incident report?

Usually the person who saw or handled the incident, or their supervisor, with input from everyone involved. A manager then reviews and signs it off.

How soon should it be written?

As soon as the situation is safe, ideally the same day. Your organisation's policy, or the law for some incidents, may set a deadline.