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Guide · Incidents

Submit an incident

Anyone in your organisation can report an incident — an injury, near-miss, property-damage event or environmental release. Submitting it kicks off the full investigation lifecycle in ENSURE.

6 min read For all users Module: Incidents
TL;DR

The 30-second version

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Before you start. You can submit an incident with any role — User, Manager, HSE Manager or Admin. If you're on a tablet or phone, the Quick Capture button on the dashboard is even faster.

Step-by-step

1

Open the Incidents module

From any page in ENSURE, click Incidents in the left sidebar. You'll land on the list view showing every open incident in your organisation. The page header tells you how many are open, investigating and closed.

Screenshot: sidebar with Incidents item highlighted + incident list view
The Incidents list — open items first, with inline severity and status pills.
2

Click "+ New incident"

The button is in the top-right of the Incidents page. A focused form opens — you don't lose context, the list stays behind it. If you started typing details before clicking the button, ENSURE's form-draft feature restores them after a refresh.

Screenshot: "+ New incident" button + the empty form modal
The new-incident form. Required fields are marked with an asterisk.
3

Choose the type and severity

Type categorises what happened: Near Miss, First Aid, Medical Treatment, Lost Time, Property Damage, Environmental. Pick the closest one — the HSE team can refine it during investigation.

Severity is what actually happened (not what could have). For near-misses there's a separate Potential severity field — fill that with the worst credible outcome the event could have caused.

💡
If unsure, pick higher. An HSE manager can always reclassify down. Under-reporting hides risk; over-reporting is recoverable.
4

Set date/time, location and reporter

The date/time picker defaults to "now." If you're filing this after the fact, set it to when the event actually happened — investigation accuracy depends on it.

Location can be free-text (e.g. "Loading bay 3, north side") plus a structured site dropdown if your org has sites configured.

Reporter pre-fills with your name. Change it if you're filing on someone else's behalf — they'll be tagged as the reporter in audit trails and notifications.

Screenshot: middle section of the form with date/time, location, reporter
5

Describe what happened

This is the most important field. Be factual, specific and brief — investigators will fill in causes and analysis later. A good description answers:

  • What — the chain of events in order
  • Who — by role/job-title, not personal details
  • What was damaged or injured
  • Initial immediate actions taken (called the area safe, isolated equipment, etc.)

Don't speculate about root causes here — that's the investigation phase.

⚠️
No personal data. Describe people by role ("a forklift operator", "a contractor") — not by name. Names go in the witnesses/people-involved field, which has tighter visibility rules.
6

Attach photos (optional but recommended)

Photos are the single highest-leverage piece of an incident report. They show context that words can't. Use the photo upload area to drag-drop images, or tap to take new ones on mobile.

Photos are stored encrypted in your org's private storage bucket — they're never exposed to other organisations.

Screenshot: photo upload tile with example thumbnails
7

Submit & begin lifecycle

Click Submit & begin lifecycle at the bottom. The incident is saved instantly, you're given an auto-generated reference (e.g. INC-014), and:

  • Your HSE team is notified per the notification rules in Settings
  • The incident is added to the list with status Open
  • The investigation lifecycle starts at Raised
Screenshot: success card showing the new INC ref
Confirmation card — your reference is generated immediately.

What happens next

After submission, the incident moves through six lifecycle steps. You can follow the investigation in real time on the incident's detail page.

Raised
Immediate actions
Risk assessment
Investigation
Interim controls
Closed

Each step has its own form section in the detail panel. Investigations typically follow a 5-Whys or fishbone method (your choice — both are built in). When the investigation finds an action that prevents recurrence, ENSURE lets you promote it to a CAPA with one click — the new CAPA is linked back to the incident for audit-trail purposes.

Common questions

Can I edit the incident after submitting?
Yes — but only Admins, HSE Managers and the original reporter can edit the description, location and severity. The audit log records every change.
Who gets notified?
Controlled by notification rules in Settings → Notifications. By default: all Admins and HSE Managers get an in-app toast plus an email. You can scope it to specific sites or only fire for High/Critical severity.
What if I'm offline?
The form still works. Your submission is queued in the offline outbox and synced automatically when you reconnect. You'll see a small offline badge while the queue holds it.
Does the reporter need to do the investigation?
No. After raising, the incident is assigned to an investigator (typically an HSE Manager). You can stop there — but follow notifications if you want to see when it closes.