Lost Incident Report: What Is It?

A lost Audit Incident Report is a formal record of the facts within the company or a workplace that may involve employees regarding a lost or stolen item of your possession. It can’t be helped that certain times you lose an item or two without your better knowledge. And filing a lost incident report is the best method to lay out facts and pieces of evidence without subjective wording in the way. If you have seen the various incident report format above, then you may have an idea of what the document looks like. But as a template, it only serves as a structure or base and you would still need to input your actual information in the report. Keep on reading to know how to write your own.

What Is the Purpose of an Incident Report?

An incident report is a necessary document in the Case reports of a workplace occurrence. A report is simply a form that allows you to keep track of any workplace incidents that may have resulted in personal harm or damage to business property. Injuries and accidents, near misses, equipment damage, health and safety concerns, and security breaches are all examples of incidents. An incident report’s goal is to describe the problem’s source as well as any corrective measures that may be performed to reduce the likelihood of a repeat occurrence. The forms can also be used as safety documentation, highlighting potential workplace dangers. An authority figure, an employee, or another member of the organization should file incident reports at the time of the event.

How to File for a Lost Incident Report

While you may be hopeful about recovering the missing item, it is best not to instill optimism in the authorities or yourself if things do not go as planned. Chances may be rare for the item to be returned in your possession so it is best to remain practical and realistic in how you handle the report with terms to devising the action plan for the aftermath and even with how you want to set the terms for the search. Either way, you should still know how to write a lost incident report, and this guide will show you the process of doing so.

Step 1: State Personal Information

Legal documents are binding to whoever wrote them, likely that the report you will be making should have your Information sheet present in the document itself. This includes the basic information such as your name, address, contact information or details, and even your position or official work title within the company. This enables the authorities upon reviewing your report of who it belongs to and who they can contact in the future if they have additional inquiries or updates about your missing item.

Step 2: Provide a Narration

The next step requires you to recount the details of how your item was lost or stolen, or when you last saw it. Be sure to not miss out on any dates, times, or other relevant information. Since the lost incident report can be considered a primary source of information, be sure to include your personal Narrative report and not of what you merely perceive as to how the events transpired. Take a step back and take deep breaths before elaborating on the narration especially if you are in a state of shock while trying to write or fill in the details of your lost item. You have to maintain a calm demeanor in writing your report so that authorities will not be confused about the details you have written.

Step 3: Avoid Exaggeration

The main purpose statement of this step is to remind you that even though you may be filled with confusion for your lost item, or anger if it were stolen from you, the main point is not to let your emotions get the best of you. It is recommended that you take deep breaths and calm yourself before writing your report. Not too much that by the time you write your report, the details are no longer fresh enough or accurate in recounting but enough for you to steady yourself and not let emotions fill the entirety of the document.

Step 4: Include Supporting Evidences

After adding in the first two steps, the next is to provide tangible evidence to not only support your report but also verify your claim. You can include Photos you took of your lost item prior to it not being within your possession and to help authorities track it much better than a mere description of it. You may even request security video footage on your company grounds and include it as part of your report to validify the date of your claims.

Step 5: Double Check the Facts

Documents are official paperwork that is not meant for unofficial use, the same way that exaggerated stories and inaccurate details have no place in a lost incident report. Authorities take cases seriously and nobody should take their time for granted unless it is indeed an important business documents that needs to be dealt with. This step requires you to review the information you have placed in the report and that it remains factual. Make sure your personal information, the dates and time you listed, and the narrative are all true to what had occurred.

Step 6: State your Plans

Although this step may not be necessary for most lost incident reports, some may require you to add your Action Plan if you either retrieve the item back in your possession or if it truly may be lost to whoever may have taken it. The important point being your idea in the succeeding days or the aftermath of the events that had transpired. Whether it be requesting a refund, requesting a desk move, or installing additional security measures, it all depends on the severity of the situation.

Why Is It Important to Report All Incidents?

Incident reporting is a notion that has been around for a long time. Despite the fact that it was created to promote workplace safety, there are still a variety of reasons why employees fail to comply. The importance of reporting an occurrence to the organization’s safety, efficiency, and general well-being must be understood by management and other employees. Pimping of ESH Today expounds on the importance of writing a preliminary incident report in an effort to improve the state of the workplace and better accommodate the state of the employees present.

Recognizing Threats: Reporting incidents is critical because it promotes awareness of what may go wrong inside the company, allowing corrective and preventative steps to be implemented quickly. This applies to a variety of sectors, including physical labor, heavy machinery production, office work, and many more. A number of hazards affecting safety might go unreported and addressed without the communication route offered by incident reporting protocols. Threats such as machinery or equipment that is defective or malfunctioning, inappropriate conduct, safety equipment, training, and controls that may be lacking. Encourages Progress: Incident reports are merely covert inquiries on what is lacking in the workplace reports. Often, what appears to be trivial occurrences are actually indications of a much larger issue. Such reports give useful, real-world information to management, which may be used to determine whether further training, better equipment, or new strategies are required for the business to advance.Urgent Matters: Simply describing something unexpected that occurred at work does not convey a sense of gravity or urgency. An incident report is a legal document that requires companies to act quickly to resolve a problem. Get as many witness statements as possible when preparing incident reports to establish their authenticity and to guarantee that something is done to prevent a repeat of occurrences. Incidents must be reported quickly, or at the very least within one day of their occurrence, regardless of severity. An incident report form is a document that collects information about an occurrence for formal recording and inquiry. Incident reporting is beneficial to a company in more ways than one. It’s a vehicle for all-around development and progress.

Important Points to Consider When Writing a Lost Incident Report

If you are convinced to file a report at this point, then there are also additional tips for writing your document. There are also lost incident report samples available for viewing. Without further ado, the following are some suggestions for reporting a lost or misplaced item.

Introduce yourself properly so that authorities know who is on the other end of the document right away. The tone with which your document or report is viewed may reflect on the company as well, which is recommendable to remain professional and formal in the way you write and fill in the report. Keep your report brief so make it obvious that the item is missing to avoid any unneeded misunderstanding. Avoid going into too much detail about how the item went missing. Though the authorities may be curious as to how the item went lost or was misplaced, keep it brief. Only add the most relevant information.Take responsibility for misplacing the item or for negligence if indeed you did misplace it elsewhere. Own up to the mistake if there should be no case in the first place. Receiving a possible reprimanding and cutting the investigation short may be better than letting the authorities go on a wild goose chase.And if you are indeed responsible for losing an item, make sure to let the owner or supervisor know of your mistake and Communication report to them so both parties won’t have to involve the authorities or other offices. You can check out our sample of an incident report on missing items for references. If you have heard of such being reported and know that the item was last in your care, own up to it.There may be times where you would need to report to an individual holding a much higher authority or title than you before directly going to the police to report the missing or stolen item. It is best to alert your supervisor or boss with the situation so they may aid you in the process of reporting the item to other authorities. It also avoids them from being shocked that your company could go through an investigation and they don’t have an idea of the report’s presence at all. Not all missing items in the workplace are due to negligence or oversight, in some instances, thievery is to blame and another individual may be responsible for taking the said item. It is already important to alert your higher-up of filing a lost incident report for a missing item but it is more than advisable to alert your boss if you are planning to involve the police in a stolen item report.

FAQs

Why are some incidents not reported?

A worker may choose not to disclose an event in which they were engaged for a variety of reasons. All of them are comprehensible, but once we comprehend why the report was needed, we should see that none of them are acceptable. Fear of management retaliation, a desire not to have the event on their work records, a desire not to lose time from their job assignment, a desire not to jeopardize the department’s safety record, and a desire not to be the focus of an incident inquiry are all genuine reasons.

How secure is the incident report for missing items?

As any legal documents are treated, the authorities or employees receiving your report with information that can be considered classified will be handled with the utmost confidentiality. Trust that it will be safe and they will not in any means toy with the information that you have placed in the report. If there is tampering or unauthorized use of the information you have jotted down, then you are able to write another complaint about such mishandle to the police through a Police Report.

What can be considered for a lost item incident report?

Any item that is associated with you and granted to you for use by either the company or a larger corporation can be considered to be reported. Regardless of size but if the value is considerably greater such as a missing identification card, then you are encouraged to write a lost id incident report. Then again, evaluate the situation of how grave the loss of the item is and how it affects the flow of your work. Any item within considerable bounds should be reported and not exaggerated in the report.

Can damaged items or theft be included in the lost incident report?

Items are important to anyone much more with the added sentimental value of it, so there are chances that people who are eyeing it did not keep their hands to themselves and took the item before anyone could notice. If such thievery was done within the company grounds, then you are able to include it in the lost incident report. But do remember to not let your anger or suspicions get to you. Try to be as calm and collected when writing the report and don’t blamelessly accuse anyone in your proximity of taking the lost or broken item. Not only will this make you look bad but also cause gossip between your coworkers.

Missing or stolen items should not be disregarded because unbeknownst to all, filing for a lost incident report not only improves the awareness of the company and its employees but it can also be an initiative for the hgiher ups to act on cases and prevent it from happening in the possible future. This is why not to undermine the act of writing a report and filing it to the authorities.