Selecting the right incident report writing software is crucial for any business looking to improve its efficiency, compliance, and documentation.
With the right tools, you can simplify reporting, centralize data management, and access various customization options to meet your specific needs.
In this guide, we’ll explore the top incident report writing software solutions, their features, and how they can address the most common pain points in the reporting process.
Let's get started.
14 Best Incident Report Writing Software
Let's take a quick look at some of the best incident report writing programs, available for free online these days.
Some of these solutions have paid packages too, but if you own a startup on a limited budget, then you can easily sign up for a free account to access some of the most essential incident report writing app features.
1. Xenia - Overall No. 1 Free Incident Report Writing App Online
As one of the best incident report writing software, Xenia facilitates the overall incident report creation and managment process through a number of different features.
The platform's mobile-compatible incident report templates provide a standardized and efficient approach to reporting.
Since photographic and any kind of digital evidence storage & maintenance is essential to incident report writing online, Xenia enables users to capture photos and videos, alongside digital signatures for heightened accuracy.
Furthermore, the program also empowers organizations to drive effective issue resolution by facilitating the assignment of action items and real-time monitoring of their progress.
Needless to say, the platform's powerful features, combined with a focus on user-friendly functionality, make it a valuable tool for maintaining a secure and compliant work environment.
Key Features
- Incident Reports: Use mobile reporting, remedial actions, and live progress monitoring to improve problem management
- Checklists: Ensure the checklist undergoes supervisor approval through a Fail, Pass system before being shared across the company, adding an extra layer of validation.
- Subset Creation: Effortlessly create and append subsets of checklist variables, providing a detailed and comprehensive approach to incident reporting.
- Multimedia Support: Capture minor-level details by uploading photos directly into the checklist, supporting any claims made in an incident report with visual evidence.
- User-Friendly Interface: Xenia's user-friendly interface ensures ease of use across the entire company, fostering accessibility for all users.
- Cloud-Based Accessibility: Benefit from 24/7 accessibility to checklists and essential data through cloud data security and retrievability, enhancing the efficiency of workforce management.
- Analytics & Reports: Use thorough work analytics, powerful filters, and configurable data exports to improve decision-making
Pricing
- Free Forever: For up to 5 users with access to basic incident report writing features
- Starter: $99 / month for 15 users
- Premium: $199 / month for 15 users with unlimited access to all the core features
- Custom: Need something tailored to your organization?
Available for up to 5 users
Premium for $99/month for the first 20 users (with free trial period)
Available on iOS, Android and Web
2. BigPanda Incident Report Software
BigPanda, another best incident report writing software provides support agents with a real-time incident feed.
The program allows usersto prioritize and prevent critical issues from being overlooked.
The incident timeline visualization simplifies root-cause analysis by offering a comprehensive view of incident history, and users can customize filtered views to focus on specific incidents of interest.
BigPanda streamlines incident management by providing a real-time view, efficient collaboration tools, automation for quicker resolutions, and robust root-cause analysis capabilities.
The platform aims to enhance incident response and resolution processes for improved overall operational efficiency.
Key Features
- Centralized Incident Tracking: Track all incident changes in a single, easily accessible location.
- Real-time Notifications and Collaboration Tools: Utilize real-time notifications and chat tools for internal collaboration, ensuring quick and efficient communication among team members.
- Automated Incident Resolution: Automate incident resolution processes to reduce response time and enhance efficiency.
- Root-Cause Analysis: Reduce outages and investigate incidents effectively through root-cause analysis, gaining insights into the underlying issues.
Pricing
- The free version is not available. Custom pricing based on specific business needs.
3. Zendesk Incident Report Software
Zendesk is an incident reporting software that offers exceptional service experiences to its customers through various channels like chat, email, and other communication mediums.
Its offerings go beyond mere incident reporting and provide a comprehensive solution that can transform customer interactions into remarkable experiences.
The software's strengths lie in its ability to track, prioritize, and resolve customer issues seamlessly.
Key Features
1. Real-time Incident Tracking: Identify the individuals actively working on each incident or ticket in real time.
2. Multichannel Communication: Communicate with end users seamlessly through email, chat, social media, and voice calls, ensuring a diverse yet unified customer interaction experience.
3. SLA Target Monitoring: Track the achievement or breach of SLA (Service Level Agreement) targets to ensure adherence to service standards.
4. Ticket History and Context: Provide agents with comprehensive ticket history and context, facilitating efficient and informed customer interactions.
Pricing
- Starts at $55/user/month (billed annually, with a 14-day free trial), free version is not available
- Supported Platforms: Web, Android, and iOS
4. Jira Service Management
Jira Service Management emerges as a transformative force, redefining how organizations handle service requests and incidents.
This robust platform integrates seamlessly with Jira's suite of products, offering a comprehensive solution for streamlined service delivery.
Key Features
- Service Request Handling: Jira Service Management facilitates efficient handling of service requests, ensuring a structured and organized workflow.
- Incident Tracking and Management: The platform excels in incident tracking and management, providing a centralized hub for monitoring ongoing and past incidents.
- Self-Service Capabilities: Users can create an internal knowledge base, empowering employees to solve problems independently and reducing the volume of service tickets.
- Real-time Collaboration: Enable real-time collaboration through notifications and chat tools, ensuring quick communication and efficient issue resolution.
- SLA Target Monitoring: Track SLA targets to gauge service performance, helping organizations maintain service standards and meet customer expectations.
Pricing
- Jira Service Management pricing varies based on the number of users and starts at $20/user/month (billed annually).
5. BIS Safety Software
Up next on our incident report writing software recommendations list, we've got BIS Incident Management Software.
It is a powerful program allowing organizations to collect comprehensive incident data, create an accurate picture of the event and identify root causes and learning points.
Moreover, facility managers can also implement corrective actions to ensure proper incident notification up the chain of command.
Key Features
- Real Time Tracking: Track incidents and identify trends
- Workflow Reviews: Review the workflow for each incident investigation
- Root Cause Analysis: Understand why, when and where incidents occur
- Preventative Measures: Prevent, report and resolve incidents
- Real Time Notifications: Easily provide updates to senior management
Pricing
- Please contact BIS for more details on pricing.
6. PagerDuty
PagerDuty is an excellent choice for an incident report writing tool that can dramatically improve your incident management system, minimizing the impact of critical incidents and preventing their recurrence.
The robust features of software result in quick resolutions to critical incidents while ensuring the right people are kept informed, at the right times.
Another valuable feature of PagerDuty is its ability to aid in cross-collaboration among different departments so that teams are able to respond to incidents that could become critical before they become an emergency.
Key Features
- Gain a holistic view: Offers users a comprehensive view of your machine data, teams, and services, empowering informed decision-making and swift action.
- Analyze incidents effectively: Users can leverage postmortem reports to conduct thorough analyses of both major and minor incidents, gaining a deeper understanding of underlying issues and contributing factors.
- Integrate seamlessly: syncs up with leading IT service management (ITSM) and ticketing systems, ensuring smooth communication and workflow integration.
- Enhance team communication: offers built-in integrations with popular communication platforms, including Slack and Microsoft Teams, to foster seamless communication among team members enabling swift collaboration and response coordination.
Pricing
- Free
- Professional: $21
- Business: $41
- Enterprise: Available on demand
7. HaloITSM Incident Report Software
HaloITSM is the perfect solution for a variety of organizations' incident management requirements ranging from small single entities to large enterprises Not only can you log new incidents quickly and effectively, but you can also find long-term trends and data to minimize high volume or recurring incidents. The software is completely web based so there are no compatibility issues to worry about.
Plus, HaloITSM comprises built-in time escalations and automated notifications.
Going on holiday?
Just set up your Notify and Delegate rules to ensure you get that important text message if you’re away from your email inbox during an escalation.
Through the easy-to-use interface and feature-heavy tool set that HaloITSM provides, it will not only help ensure incidents are being dealt with in line with the process and held accountable, but also allow you to understand why incidents occurred in the first place and put measures in place so they don’t happen again in the future. HaloITSM also boasts a set of tools that help us with the increasing workload we face and focus on continual improvement.
With HaloITSM you can manage everything from small changes to major change plans, the service helps your staff confidently execute changes to minimize disruption and maximize efficiency. Whether they are updating configurations, rolling out new software, or implementing policy changes, HaloITSM lets you manage all changes appropriately and transparently.
Key Features
- Comprehensive Incident Management: Track all activities related to incidents for enhanced transparency and accountability throughout the resolution process.
- Seamless Ticket Integration: Integrate incident tracking with ticket management to easily manage and resolve issues within your work environment.
- SLA Group Tracking: Keep track of multiple SLA groups to ensure consistent and efficient service delivery.
- Organizational Change Management: Organize, execute, and track all organizational changes effectively, minimizing disruption and maximizing efficiency.
Pricing
- Contact Vendor
8. xMatters
xMatters is also an incident report writing software that promises swift and dependable performance in critical cases. xMatters keeps you up to speed and in close touch with the employees – irrespective of their preferred means of communication.
Integrations and workflow tools automatically assign and escalate incidents so you can prioritize your incidents according to their urgency and impact on business. Incidents triggering alerts to your on-call teams can be routed according to the type of escalation –to guarantee that only relevant teams are alerted.
Upon much review, the xMatters provides an efficient communication process. Every incident triggers a response and passes information to the relevant stakeholder. The tool has best-in-class process automation, revolutionizing communication to offer agility and enable collaborative response strategies.
Key Features
- Activity Dashboard: Real-time tracking of the live incidents and activity progress ensures transparent management and decision-making.
- Email Alerts: Notifies about the incidents and updates via Email.
- Alert Suppression: Suppresses non-critical incidents during a specific time period to avoid notification overflow and helps better monitoring of high-priority incidents.
- Audit Management: Keeps a comprehensive record of end-to-end response history and actions taken, for future audits and a record of accountability.
- Monitoring: Monitor asset health and performance metrics to gain early insight into the potential system issues that could escalate into critical and encountered incident mitigation to proactively mitigate risk.
Pricing
- Free
- Starter:$9
- Base:$39
- Advanced: Custom
9. Opsgenie Incident Report Software
Another leading incident report writing software Opsgenie offers users a unified view to correlate or group incidents for business services. the leading edge of incident management, Opsgenie helps your organization, using an innovative and effective approach to help you quickly respond to problems, regardless of the cause.
With Opsgenie's easy-to-use interface, users can easily send an alert, create a status page, and check for potential Alert policies to apply and users to alert with a single click.
This streamlined approach allows teams to quickly understand the severity of an Incident and enables quicker response times to ensure Incidents are resolved as soon as possible.
Opsgenie also enables your Alerts to be connected with the affected Business services, this can give incredible insight into what teams need to be working on the resolution and who needs to be kept up to date with progress.
Key Features
- Multiple Notification Channels: Control multiple notification channels such as email, SMS and push notifications to keep everyone informed and up to date with the incident status and its progress on resolution.
- Integration Capabilities: With built-in integrations and collaboration tools such as Slack and Microsoft Teams the tool further customizes your workflows and aligns with your team's current activities.
- Flexible On-Call Schedules: With flexible on-call schedules, you can create daily, weekly, or custom rotations depending on your team or even personal rotations, ensuring that you have 24/7 coverage and that the right people are being notified promptly.
- Investigation Dashboard: OpsGenie allows you to dive deeper into your deployment-related incidents and will provide you a detailed report which can be useful for further in-depth analysis to get to the root cause.
Pricing
- Free
- Essential:$9
- Standard:$19
- Enterprise:$29
10. EHS Software
EHS Insight provides near miss reporting software as part of their overall safety management software portfolio.
The software has features for root cause analysis, compliance management, and incident reporting that can be tailored to any kind of business. We especially value EHS Insight's offline access capabilities and availability as a mobile app.
You can discover insights on near-misses throughout your organization by using the dashboard and data visualization tool. You can then identify areas for improvement, high performance, and risks.
EHS Insight's price is its main disadvantage. The annual cost is $3,600. It is also disheartening that there is no live phone assistance available for customers in need of customer service.
Key Features
- OSHA-Ready Reports: Create OSHA-Ready reports detailing the illnesses and injuries sustained at work for your company. Fill out OSHA 300, 300A, and 301 incident reporting forms, print them, and send them in electronically to OSHA.
- Monitor Injury and Illness: Increase the effectiveness of your safety incident management. Assist your organization in compiling and recording the "who, what, when, where, and why" of any incidents that occur in one location and following the specifics through to the end.
- Report Generation: Simply press a button to finish tasks. With just one click, create reports that include notes, remedial activities, images, and details.
Pricing
- Contact the vendor for pricing.
11. Tap Report
Go digital to gain deeper real-time insights and streamline your inspection and documentation process.
This near miss report automation software's user-friendly features allow it to function as a near-miss reporting application as well. Can you imagine not missing any inspection points? One way to submit an inspection is to tap your phone on each Smart Tag.
Users can fast access a site's or piece of equipment's history and do a defect or damage inspection by scanning a smart tag. Workers can ask their bosses for advice on what to do next by just tapping.
Key Features
- Incident Reporting: Make specialized templates to record important information about routine occurrences and save information in a searchable database.
- API Integration: To improve business operations, our solutions can operate and interface with other systems in a smooth manner.
- Automated Record Keeping: All inspections are kept on file for seven years, which facilitates easy file retrieval and smooth record keeping.
Pricing
- Contact the vendor for pricing.
12. Intelex
Intelex is a near-miss app that, like others, emphasizes proactivity. Using the app, you can motivate your group to report any dangers or hazards and contribute to the reduction of accidents.
It emphasizes how crucial it is for staff members to report behavioral dangers as well as environmental and physical ones, such as a coworker who is not according to protocol.
You can utilize the reporting forms and workflows that are included with this near miss reporting software right out of the box, or you can develop your own using the Form Designer.
Employees can submit real-time reports from anywhere with Intelex's online and mobile applications. A necessary report won't be prevented by a lack of internet connectivity because offline access is also available. You have complete control over how the app displays near-miss situations on its dashboard as a manager.
For instance, you may view near-misses by team or area to see trends and patterns. Additionally, you can program the system to initiate risk-reduction actions or investigations after near-misses of a particular level of severity.
The Intelex interface can be difficult to navigate, which is its major fault. Furthermore, putting it into practice takes time and can be difficult for certain individuals.
Key Features
- Incident Reporting: Make specialized templates to record important information about routine occurrences and save information in a searchable database.
- API Integration: To improve business operations, our solutions can operate and interface with other systems smoothly.
- Automated Record Keeping: All inspections are kept on file for seven years, which facilitates easy file retrieval and smooth record keeping.
Pricing
- Contact the vendor for pricing.
13. FORM OpX
The near miss reporting software that is mobile-based is efficient in reporting close calls by gathering precise and noteworthy information, disseminating it to groups, and providing prompt insights for improved decision-making.
The streamlined workflows provided by FORM OpX enable enterprises to ensure the safety of their staff. Examine the most customizable field sales and compliance solutions available in the market, then choose from our array of options to create the most powerful enterprise procedure possible.
Key Features
- Mobile App: Using a mobile app that functions offline on iOS, Android, and Windows devices, create and delegate digital audits, inspections, and checklists to teams operating in the field.
- Workflows: For effective, real-time resolution, link your mobile audits and inspections to automated alerts and escalation pathways.
- Photo Reporting: Utilize your personal photo collection, replete with real-time photos taken in the field, to obtain visual verification of compliance. Find, sort, and filter photos by location, user, account, SKU, and more in an instant.
Pricing
- Essentials: $299/month
- Pro: $999/ month
- Enterprise
14. Quentic
Using the web or mobile app Quentic, you and your staff can report near-miss occurrences and accidents.
The near miss reporting software excels because it prioritizes enabling anonymous reporting. The staff engaged in the near-miss will receive automated notifications from Quentic when you or your team members submit reports, whether they are anonymous or not. You can then decide what preventative and corrective measures are appropriate.
After receiving a report, you can utilize the analytics tool to identify problem regions and determine the underlying source of the issue. Additionally, you can set up automation to help calculate data such as the severity rates of occurrences.
Furthermore, you may immediately create a notice from the app and send it if a near-miss turns into an accident.
Key Features
- Ease of Reporting: Utilize a thorough preset collection of use cases, such as those for compliance or quality issues, and damage to property and the environment, and further categorize based on your requirements.
- Quick Review: To expedite the assignment of priorities, the first evaluation includes a comprehensive list of details and implications. You determine causes and evaluate hazards based on individually chosen criteria during the comprehensive research.
- Evaluations, Reports, and Monitoring: You can evaluate interactive analytics dashboards that show you current results, key performance indicators, and trends. This also produces an ideal overall view for senior management.
Pricing
- Contact the vendor for pricing.
What's An Incident Report Writing Software?
Incident report writing software is a crucial tool designed to facilitate the reporting of various issues that may occur within an organization, including workplace injuries, security incidents, property damage, environmental occurrences, as well as incidents related to bullying, harassment, or discrimination.
As a result, these programs equip individuals working for or associated with an organization with the means to report incidents, capture visual evidence through photos and generate comprehensive reports for compliance purposes.
3 Reasons Why Incident Reports In Maintenance & Other Industries Important?
Almost a Near Miss – These incidents signify any "near miss" incident where an employee almost got any life-altering or serious physical harm. The same concept applies to machinery and daily equipment at employees' disposal.
Incidents, Accidents & More – Any unexpected accident that might happen out of the blue falls under this category. The same goes for harm to employees' physical well-being, personal property, etc.
Hazardous But No Harm Incident – Whenever a hazard is a direct or indirect result of something intentional vs. unintentional, the incident report generally classifies the action under this category. These scenarios are also classified as" No Harm Events."
In the long run, a squeaky clean and detailed incident report helps to send out a message that your organization is safety and policy compliant.
Read More: OSHA Compliance and Labor Incident Report Policies
Benefits of Incident Reporting Software
Using incident report writing software offers numerous advantages for businesses.
Here are key benefits derived from the implementation of such software:
1. Streamlined Reporting Process
Incident report writing software simplifies reporting by providing standardized templates and workflows, ensuring consistency and efficiency in the reporting process.
2. Improved Efficiency
Businesses can enhance efficiency by automating tasks such as data entry, report generation, and notifications through the utilization of incident report writing software.
3. Real-time Access to Information
These platforms enable real-time access to incident data, providing stakeholders with up-to-the-minute information about ongoing incidents for swift decision-making.
4. Enhanced Data Analysis
Incident report writing software typically includes robust reporting and analytics capabilities, allowing businesses to analyze incident trends, identify patterns, and make data-driven decisions to prevent future incidents.
5. Compliance and Legal Support
Many incident report writing software solutions come with built-in compliance features, ensuring that businesses adhere to industry-specific regulations and requirements, and providing legal support in the process.
Five Rules of Incident Report Writing That Every Person Should Follow
Here are the 5 most crucial incident report writing rules for concerned individuals in any company:
1. Accessibility
Incident reporting isn't only for supervisors. With an iron-clad incident report writing process, many companies have set up a portal where everyone can access the information on a whim.
Confidentiality factor aside, if the incident report variants are general, the details should be available to any existing or new incoming member of the organization.
Some factors or aspects that contribute to this dilemma are appended below:
- Is a photo or evidence required when filing an incident report on behalf of a user?
- Is there a company-wide URL or an app where people can access the incident reporting portal?
- If the records are maintained in a physical form, where's the exact location of that book or journal?
2. Awareness
Next up, on the topic of the five rules of incident report writing, we've got the awareness aspect going on.
If your company has set up an incident reporting system, is it made public and known to everyone? A lot of times, many employees do not know of such systems until it is too late. For new employees, supervisors need to ensure that such information is relayed during the onboarding process.
Similarly, what would be the dynamics of incident reporting should an accident happen out of nowhere?
Consider the following scenario:
- A random visitor walks into your company, slips, and falls over on the floor. The floor was recently polished/ cleaned, and someone forgot to put up the 'Caution: Floor Wet' sign.
Luckily, a company employee witnesses the entire incident and wishes to report it. Who should they report it to, and what's the process for filing this incident report? Is everything made clear in advance for such employees in case such incidents occur out of nowhere?
3. Relevancy
Incident reports have different functions to cater to individual requirements. One person's tenacity to file an incident report on vehicle damage differs from someone's requirement to file an incident report on personal injury.
Also, ensure that the following areas are covered when addressing the relevancy issue of incident reporting:
- The organization in charge of setting up incident report policies needs to ensure that individual-level requirements are met.
- The reports need to be relevant to the type of incidents that have occurred in the past and are likely to occur in the near future.
- Proper hierarchy needs to be there in case the incident needs to be reported up the food chain.
4. Training
The 4th aspects of the 'what are the five rules of incident report writing are about training everyone about incident reporting protocols and policies.
Especially if you are the person who created the system or you were part of the process when such systems were being set up, ensure that there are substantial training elements available to existing and incoming employees.
Simple things, like how to report any incident, are what matter the most. Classroom training sessions, e-guides on how to report an incident and file an incident report, newsletters, and memos go a long way to solidifying the training process.
- Many companies have monthly training sessions for everyone just to jog memories and keep everyone on the same page.
- A backup person needs to be available in case the primary designated individual responsible for processing the incident reporting portal is away on holiday and vice versa.
- Is there any personalized incident reporting features available to people in your company?
5. Incident Report Policy Updates
Incident reporting is a constantly evolving process that changes in nature as the company grows in size.
Especially when there are MNCs with worldwide branches, incident report writing may differ from region to region, as per the local government policies in that area.
The same concept applies to processes that are subject to change when local laws and policies change. The designated department's job is to ensure that the incident report filing process and policies are up to date and current to the latest ongoing referendum outside of the business spectrum.
What Are The Legal Considerations Of Incident Report Writing?
Depending on the nature of the incident, outside organizations, such as police and investigating authorities, may need to be involved from time to time. Under such prevailing circumstances, the incident report writing and filing need to be subject to such legal considerations so that the system itself isn't working in a silo.
Should there be courts involved in the investigation or incident report processes, the company should clearly mention that the incident report is about any of the following aspects, which can be accessed for later use:
- On-site assault
- Physical injury to a person or property
- Imminent death due to accident
- Destruction of valuable property
- Other incidents, such as; theft, robbery, etc.
- Disruptive situations, such as; disease outbreak
- Illness(es)
Many organizations are more than likely to play it safe by going over the interior and exterior aspects of incident report filing rules. They stick with one policy, i.e., 'Better safe today than being sorry later.' We think that in order to avoid any legal implications due to a potential lack of policy, the incident report system needs to be thorough and up to date from time to time.
Conclusion
Choosing any incident report writing program isn't easy. Plus, if you are a startup business owner that manages facilities for clients, you need to evaluate the program that you're considering signing up for!
Don't forget to compare prices and check online incident report writing app reviews before making an informed decision.
Good luck!
FAQS - Frequently Asked Questions
1. Why should I invest in incident report writing software for my business?
Incident report writing software is essential for businesses to ensure prompt and accurate documentation of workplace incidents.
It streamlines the reporting process, enhances data accuracy, and provides valuable insights for improving safety measures.
2. How does incident report writing software ensure data security?
Leading incident report writing software typically employs robust security measures to safeguard sensitive data.
It includes secure cloud storage, encryption protocols, and access controls.
3. Can incident report writing software be customized to suit specific business needs?
Many incident report writing software solutions offer customization options to cater to the unique requirements of different businesses.
Users can often tailor forms, workflows, and reporting structures to align with their specific industry standards, compliance regulations, and internal processes.
This adaptability ensures that the software integrates seamlessly with existing workflows.
4. How user-friendly are incident report writing software applications for employees?
Top incident report writing software is designed with user-friendly interfaces to facilitate easy adoption by employees at all levels.
Intuitive design, simple navigation, and clear instructions make it accessible for individuals involved in incident reporting, regardless of their technical proficiency.