Rowing Club Incident Report Form
A one-page form for recording incidents and near misses properly - on the day, while people still remember. Download the PDF, keep blank copies in the boatshed, and file every completed one. Free, no email address required.
What should an incident report capture?
Date, time and exact location; who was involved and who witnessed it; the boats and equipment concerned; water and weather conditions at the time; a factual description of what happened; any injuries and treatment given; and the follow-up actions with a named owner and date. Near misses get the same form as injuries - they are the cheapest safety lessons a club ever gets. Australian clubs should also report incidents through their state association and Rowing Australia's incident reporting process where the incident is reportable.
Download the form
Download PDFFree. No email, no watermark. Print a stack for the boatshed noticeboard.
What is on the form
One page, seven sections. Designed to be filled in over five minutes on the day, not pieced back together a week later.
1. When and where
Date, time, and precise location - "200m upstream of the ferry wharf, on the boatshed side", not "on the river".
2. Who
People directly involved, their squads, and witnesses with contact details. Include the duty coach or session leader.
3. Boats and equipment
Which shells, oars, launches or trailers were involved, and any damage - this feeds your maintenance log.
4. Conditions
River or tide state, wind, visibility, temperature, daylight. The pattern across incidents is where the safety lessons hide.
5. What happened
A factual account in the writer's own words. What was seen and done - not whose fault it was.
6. Injuries and treatment
Any injury however minor, first aid given, whether an ambulance or medical help was called, and who was informed.
7. Actions and reporting
Follow-up actions with a named owner and a date, whether the risk assessment needs updating, and whether the incident was reported to your state association or Rowing Australia.
This form is a club-level record. It does not replace any workplace safety reporting obligations that may apply where the club is an employer, or your governing body's incident reporting requirements. Australian clubs should report incidents through their state association and Rowing Australia's incident reporting process where required, and check what their insurer expects to be notified of.
The form is for the day. The pattern is the point.
One incident report tells you what happened on Saturday. Fifty of them tell you which stretch, which conditions and which boats keep coming up. That needs the incident, the people and the equipment to be connected records rather than paper in a folder - which is what Row HQ does: members, boats, damage history and outing logs in one place, so when something happens the who-had-which-boat-when question answers itself. Print this form for the boatshed; keep the system of record in Row HQ; coach with the time you get back.
Set up your club freeFree for clubs of up to 20 active members.
Incident reporting FAQs
Should near misses be reported as well as injuries?
Yes - always. A near miss is an incident where nobody happened to get hurt this time: the eight that missed the sculler in morning fog, the trestle that collapsed with no one under it, the crew caught out by a southerly change. They are far more common than injuries and show you exactly where the next injury is coming from. Use the same one-page form, mark it as a near miss, and review the pattern at committee level each season.
When does an incident need reporting to Rowing Australia or a state association?
State associations and Rowing Australia expect affiliated clubs to report safety incidents - capsizes, collisions, injuries, equipment failures and safety-relevant near misses - through their incident reporting processes. The exact process and thresholds are set by your state association, so check its current guidance for what is reportable and how to submit it. The club form on this page is your own record on the day; the association submission is the formal report. Note the submission on section 7 of the form so nothing falls through the gap.
How long should incident reports be kept?
Keep them for as long as a claim could realistically arise - and for incidents involving juniors, that can be many years after they become adults, so keep those records much longer. Your insurer and state association can advise on minimum retention for your situation. Many clubs simply keep all incident records for the life of the club: they are also the club's institutional safety memory. Store them securely - they contain personal data, so access should be limited to those who need it.
Related
The incident log is the feedback loop for your risk assessment - review one against the other at least annually. Browse the full templates library for more club documents.