WRITING COURSE 4: ACCIDENT REPORT

A report is a text that explains something we have seen or done. At school, you may be asked to write a report on a visit to a company or to reflect on your work and the skills you have gained. You may also be asked to write a report to explain the work process that led to a finished product.

At work, we may have to write a report when a project is finished, or when an accident happens. Sometimes, for example in the healthcare sector or if you have been involved in a car accident, the reports will be specific forms that you have to use, such as a non-conformance report (“avviksrapport”) or an injury report (“skademeldingsskjema”).

The person who reads the report expects useful and correct information about a topic or an event. It is therefore important that the report is written using formal and objective language (see p. 284), that it contains relevant information and that it is not too long. A report is written using the first person: I or we. This course is about accident reports, but you will find other types of report at citizens.cdu.no.

If there has been an accident at your workplace, you need to write a report to your boss, so he or she will know what happened, and why it happened. A report may be used to place responsibility for an accident, to change routines or to decide whether a person should get some compensation for an injury. When you sign your name at the bottom of the report, it means that you approve of the content of the report.

To: (name / job title)

To: Charlotte Donner, manager of Martha’s Kindergarten

From: (name / job title) From: Stacy Lewis, kindergarten employee

Date: 20 September 2023

Subject: (Write what the report is about)

Background: Why are you writing this report?

Brief description of the incident: What happened? Who? When? Where? Facts, not opinion.

Sprained wrist and concussion due to wet floor

On September 18 2023 at 6:30 AM, I slipped on the floor in the hall and sprained my wrist and got a concussion.

I was going to greet one of the children I was in charge of in the hall. I saw him and his mother coming up the driveway and I hurried to reach the door before them. Unfortunately, I did not know that just a few minutes before another child had thrown up in the hall and this had been quickly cleaned up my co-worker, Camilla Peterson. I slipped on the wet floor and hurt my wrist and hit the back of my head.

Peter Carlson came to my rescue and help me up. He also reassured the child I was hurrying to meet that I would be fine as he helped me to my feet. My hand hurt badly, and I was feeling very dizzy, so it was decided that Peter would drive me to the emergency room.

After a few hours of waiting to see a doctor, I was diagnosed with a sprained wrist and a concussion.

Suggested measures:

The accident was my fault because I was hurrying to the front door, so from now on I will try to walk more slowly and be more aware of my surroundings. It would also be a good idea to instruct everyone to mop up water and spills completely and maybe purchase one of those yellow caution-signs to put up when the floor has recently been washed.

Conclusion / Next steps: I will be on sick leave for five days ending on 23 September and will back at work on 26 September but might require slight changes in my tasks at work because of my sprained wrist.

Signature: Stacy Lewis