How to Write an Injury Report

The following contains some brief instructions that will help you to write better injury descriptions. These consist of three basic parts: cause of the injury, nature of the injury and objects/substances/activities involved in the injury. Descriptions should be specific, concise and to the point

  1. Cause of the Injury
    This part of the description answers the general question "what was the employee doing when the accident occurred?" Give us specific details about the activities involved. Some examples include "carrying boxes across the factory floor", "driving a fork lift", "operating a deep fryer", etc.
  2. Nature of the Injury
    This part answers the question "what is the injury?" The answer should include the part of body affected, on what side of the body the injury occurred (if applicable) and how the body part was affected. For example, "fractured left wrist", "contusion to forehead and neck strain", "2nd degree burn both hands and stomach", etc.
  3. Objects/Substances/Activities Involved
    The specific question "what was happening and what was involved at the moment the injury occurred?" is answered by this part of the injury description. Discuss the immediate cause of the injury and anything involved. For example, "tripped over pipe and fell", "forklift struck door frame, hit head on roll cage", "dropped basket into fryer, hot grease splashed up onto employee", etc.