A slip and fall incident report can be critical evidence in an injury claim. Learn how and why to file an effective accident report.

Unintentional falls cause over 42,000 deaths every year in the U.S.¹

Further, more than 800,000 slip and fall victims end up in the hospital with severe injuries. These injuries often decrease mobility or hinder independent living.²

You deserve compensation if a negligent property owner caused your slip and fall injuries. An insurance settlement can pay for medical bills and lost wages, and compensate for your physical and emotional pain and suffering.

Proving that another person or business is at fault for your injuries isn’t easy. You’ll need solid evidence to prove your claim. An incident report is a crucial piece of evidence in slip and fall cases. Here’s how to use it to your advantage.

How to Complete an Incident Report

After falling in a restaurant, store, or another public location, the owner or manager may have a boilerplate accident report form for you to complete. In other circumstances, you might need to create an incident report yourself.

Don’t let the lack of a form keep you from filing an incident report. You can use our sample incident report form or write your own report detailing what happened.

What to Include

When writing your slip and fall accident report, describe details as thoroughly as you can. Whether you use a form or write your own, the following are crucial to documenting the facts in your fall incident.

Include All the Relevant Facts:

• Date, time, and location of the incident
• Names and contact information for yourself, witnesses, and employees
• Events that led up to the incident
• Weather and environmental conditions
• Your specific injuries
• Damage to equipment or the area of the accident (if applicable)

Explain the Order of Events:

• Clearly describe the events that led up to your slip and fall
• Include the circumstances and the order of events up to and after the incident
• Recall specifics of when you first entered the premises and where your slip and fall occurred
• Even minor and seemingly insignificant details can be valuable in setting the scene

Give a detailed breakdown of what caused the accident, such as:

• A spill on the floor, ice, debris, cracked pavement, or poor lighting
• An object that blocked your vision
• Other circumstances occurring during the incident

Try to draft these details as soon as possible after the incident. If you wait too long you may forget critical details.

As you write the report, fully explain:

• The details of the incident
• The extent of your injuries (list all injuries, not just the most serious)
• How the careless actions or inactions of the property owner caused your injuries

Copies of the Report

Once you make a report, keep a copy of it with your medical records and other documentation relating to the accident. If the property owner or their employee can’t or won’t give you a copy, take a photo of it with your cell phone.

In some cases, it might become necessary to obtain a copy of an incident report via a subpoena.  A subpoena is a court order that requires someone to hand over certain documents. You will need an attorney to properly file a subpoena.

Example of a Written Incident Report

Correctly File a Slip and Fall Incident Report

If you’re not seriously injured, try to complete your report while still on the premises. If you’re injured and need medical attention, or you’re upset or scared, you can return to complete the report later. Try not to wait longer than a few days.

Don’t try to complete an incident report at the accident scene when you’re pressed for time, feeling tired, upset, or in pain.

Depending on the location of your fall, a property owner may or may not ask you if you want to complete an incident report. You can ask for one to complete if they don’t ask you.

Who Should You Give Your Report To?

Give your report to the owner or manager of the property where you fell.

If your accident was on:

• Commercial property, then give the report to the store manager, building manager, or property owner.
• Private residence or other private property, then give the report to the homeowner, property owner, landlord, or renter.
• Public property, then give the report to the on-site manager or administrator for that government agency who runs the property.

Note the name of the person you gave the report to and the time and date. If there are future questions about whether you completed a report or not, this information is helpful.

Avoiding Future Insurance Disputes

An incident report provides reliable and timely documentation of what happened. Filing a report helps eliminate doubt with the at-fault party’s insurance company about when and where your slip and fall accident occurred.

Insurance adjusters want to pay out as little as possible. If you don’t submit an incident report or wait to submit one, they could argue that the accident never happened or that your injuries are unrelated to your fall. Delayed incident reports are suspicious and often raise doubts about the validity of your claim.

If you decide not to file a report after an accident, the decision could decrease your chances of receiving fair injury compensation in the future.

An incident report provides strong proof of:

• A hazardous condition
• How that condition caused the slip and fall
• The victim’s injuries

Detailed Reports Support Your Claim

An incident report officially documents your accident and creates proof that you fell. You’ll never have the same opportunity to document precisely what happened as you do immediately after a slip and fall.

Once the store or property owner submits the premises liability claim to their insurance carrier, stories can change and video surveillance can be “lost,” leaving you on your own to prove what happened.

After the incident, talking or yelling about it won’t change what happened. Further, you could say something that harms your claim. Instead, just write an incident report to make sure the store is aware that the accident happened and that you have injuries.

Even if your injuries appear minor or you’re not sure you want to pursue a claim, you should still complete a report after your accident.

Police and Ambulance Reports

If the police came to the scene or you left in an ambulance, there will be other reports you can use as evidence in your slip and fall claim.

• Police reports provide a trusted outsider’s view of what happened.
• Ambulance reports can describe your injuries, the condition paramedics found you in, and your symptoms.

While these reports are helpful, they are not a substitute for your own report. Don’t rely on them to explain your slip and fall. You’re the one who experienced it and has the resulting physical and emotional damages.

Your report is vital because it provides information from your point of view. It also might contain details that the police or paramedics didn’t know about.

An Attorney Can Help Settle Your Claim

If you suffered slip and fall injuries because of someone else’s negligence, consider speaking with a personal injury attorney. Most law firms offer a free consultation to injury victims.

If you decide to hire a slip and fall attorney, you won’t need money upfront because your attorney only gets paid if your claim settles or they win your case in court.

Slip and fall cases involving serious injuries must be handled by an experienced personal injury attorney. An experienced lawyer can help you recover compensation for your damages, such as medical treatment bills, lost wages, humiliation, loss of enjoyment of life, and pain and suffering.

Your lawyer can make the at-fault company hand over important evidence you can’t get without a subpoena, like security camera footage, incident reports from similar accidents, and safety inspection records.

There’s no obligation to hire an attorney after your consultation. Don’t wait to seek legal advice about the strength and value of your slip and fall case.