Fall from height incident report template
Short answer
A fall from height report should record the height fallen, the surface landed on and what was meant to stop the fall. Add who was there, what the person was doing and the condition of the edge or ladder. This page lists the fields, with a free PDF and Word template. A voice version is below.
Writing up a fall from height
Falls are rarely about one slip. There is the edge, the anchor, the ladder, the surface, the footwear and whatever was on the person’s mind. A good report keeps all of those apart, so an investigator can see which one broke.
Fields to capture
These fields come from the questions an investigator asks up front. If the form answers them, nobody needs to rebuild the scene from memory a week later.
- Height fallen, measured or estimated, and from what: roof, ladder, scaffold, platform or truck
- Surface landed on: concrete, soil, steel or water
- What was meant to stop the fall: rail, harness, net, cover, or nothing
- Edge, ladder or platform condition after the fall, with photos
- Task being done and who set up the access
- Footwear, weather, light and time of day
- Injuries seen and medical help given, with times
What a good record looks like
The strongest reports are written the same day, in the person’s own words, with photos taken before anything is moved. A drawing of the scene is worth more than a paragraph. A good record separates what happened from what someone thinks went wrong.
Where reports go wrong
Reports often skip the height and the surface, since the injury takes over. They also leave out the access setup, which is where the problem usually started. A report that says “slipped off ladder” has told the reader almost nothing.
Serious injuries and the regulator
If someone is badly hurt in a fall, or a fall could have killed them, the situation may go beyond an internal report. The notifiable incidents page explains the triggers and links to each regulator. Read it before the paperwork is filed, and ring your regulator if you’re unsure.
Where Haznote fits
In Haznote the worker or a witness records what happened by voice, with photos and a GPS point. The AI drafts a description and a suggested category, and a manager confirms it. The AI’s draft and the manager’s edits are kept separately, so the record shows who decided what.
Download the form.
A free example to print or edit. It’s general information, not legal advice, and it asks for no email.
Plain answers.
Should a fall with no injury get a report?
Yes. A fall that missed is a near miss with a height. The near miss template covers it.
Who writes the report?
The person involved, a witness or the supervisor. Where possible, the person involved gives their own account.
What goes in the photos?
The scene before anything is moved, the access equipment, the edge and the landing spot. Add a scale object if you can.
Where this comes from.
This page describes how Haznote works. It makes no claims about the law, so it cites no regulator.
Record a fall from height by voice. A manager confirms it.
Run it on one site and see the first report land in the manager’s list.