Rowing Club Incident Report Form
A one-page form for recording incidents and near misses properly - on the day, while people remember. Download the PDF, keep blank copies in the boathouse, 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. UK clubs affiliated to British Rowing should also submit reportable incidents through the BR online incident reporting system.
Download the form
Download PDFFree. No email, no watermark. Print a stack for the boathouse noticeboard.
What is on the form
One page, seven sections. Designed to be completed in five minutes on the day, not reconstructed a week later.
1. When and where
Date, time, and precise location - "200m upstream of the road bridge, on the towpath 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, blades, launches or trailers were involved, and any damage - this feeds your maintenance log.
4. Conditions
Stream 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 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 British Rowing.
This form is a club-level record. It does not replace statutory reporting duties (such as RIDDOR where it applies to employers) or your governing body's incident reporting requirements. UK clubs affiliated to British Rowing should submit reportable incidents via the BR incident reporting system.
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 boathouse; 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 fog, the trestle that collapsed with no one under it. 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 British Rowing?
British Rowing asks affiliated clubs and members to report incidents and near misses through its online incident reporting system - including capsizes, collisions, injuries, equipment failures and safety-relevant near misses. The club form on this page is for your own record on the day; the BR submission is the formal report. Check the current BR guidance for exactly what is reportable, and 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. For adults that is commonly at least three years from the incident (the standard limitation period for personal injury in England and Wales); for juniors, until they turn 21. 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.