Free incident report form

What is a incident report form?

An incident report is a formal written record of an event that has caused, or had the potential to cause, injury, illness, property damage or environmental harm in the workplace. The report documents who was involved, what happened, when and where it occurred, what injuries or damage resulted, what immediate actions were taken, and who witnessed the event. In Australia, workplace incident reporting is a legal requirement under the Work Health and Safety (WHS) Act and Regulations. Incident reports serve as the foundation for investigation, corrective action, regulatory notification (where required), insurance claims and organisational learning.

Accurate and timely incident reporting is essential for effective safety management. The report provides the factual basis that subsequent investigation relies on, and its quality directly affects the quality of root cause analysis and corrective actions. Organisations that consistently report and learn from incidents, including near misses, build a proactive safety culture where hazards are addressed before they cause serious harm.

Under the WHS Act 2011, Sections 35 to 39 define three categories of notifiable incident: the death of a person, a serious injury or illness, and a dangerous incident. Section 38 requires the PCBU to notify the regulator immediately by the fastest means possible, and Section 39 requires the incident site to be preserved until an inspector directs otherwise. Failure to notify a notifiable incident carries penalties of up to $50,000 for an individual and $250,000 for a body corporate. Even for non-notifiable incidents, maintaining a complete written record protects the organisation during workers compensation claims, coronial enquiries and regulatory investigations, and provides the data needed to identify systemic risks across the business.

Learn more about compliance and inspections in MapTrack.

Benefits of digitising forms in MapTrack

When you move your reports from paper to MapTrack, you get:

• Field users can easily scan a QR code to complete a form on mobile. Unlimited users.
• Automatically get alerts when faults are identified.
• Link every form digitally as a PDF to the relevant asset, location or person.
• Receive a digital PDF copy with every submission to your email.
• Ability to share forms digitally.
• Build conditional logic (show or hide questions based on answers).
• Take pictures or attach photos. Not possible with a paper-based form.
• Electronic signatures.
• Edit forms later without reprinting.
• Restrict permissions (who can view, complete or approve).
• Build forms with AI (describe what you need and MapTrack suggests the form).
• Escalate critical hazards instantly to safety managers via push notification.
• Maintain an auditable safety register that satisfies WHS regulator requests.
• Correlate incident trends across sites with built-in safety analytics.

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What to include in a incident report form

This incident report form covers 8 key areas:

• Incident details: date of incident, time, location/site, department, reported by, date reported.
• Persons involved: name, role/position, employer, and a description of any injury or damage sustained.
• Injury/damage details: incident type (personal injury, near miss, property damage, environmental, vehicle/plant) and severity (minor, moderate, serious, critical).
• Witnesses: name, contact details and a summary of their statement.
• Immediate actions taken: first aid, area secured, notifications made, equipment isolated.
• Root cause / contributing factors: initial assessment of why the incident occurred.
• Corrective actions: action required, responsible person, due date and completion status.
• Sign-off: reported by, supervisor/manager, and WHS officer/coordinator sign-off with date.

How often should you complete this report?

An incident report must be completed every time a workplace incident occurs, including injuries, near misses, property damage, environmental events and dangerous occurrences. Under the WHS Act, notifiable incidents (death, serious injury or illness, dangerous incident) must be reported to the regulator immediately by the fastest means possible, followed by a written notification within 48 hours. For all other incidents, the report should be completed as soon as practicable, ideally before the end of the shift while details are fresh. Most organisations require incident reporting within 24 hours as a minimum standard.

Under WHS Act 2011, Section 38, notifiable incidents must be reported to the regulator immediately, and the incident site must be preserved until an inspector directs otherwise. Keeping a standardised report form pre-filled with site details reduces response time during critical first hours.

Applicable regulatory standards

This template aligns with the following regulations and standards:

• WHS Act 2011 - Sections 35-39 (notifiable incidents and notification requirements)
• WHS Regulations 2011 - Part 3.1, Division 3 (incident notification to regulator)
• Safe Work Australia - Code of Practice: How to Manage Work Health and Safety Risks
• Safe Work Australia - Incident Notification Fact Sheet

Related resources

More safety templates and guides:

• Incident investigation form
• Near miss report form
• Take 5 risk assessment form
• Risk assessment template
• Hazard identification form
• Corrective action form
• Compliance & inspections
• Construction asset tracking
• Resource centre
• Pricing