How to build a health & safety incident report workflow

Capture, investigate, and resolve incidents efficiently

In this guide, you’ll build a health and safety incident report workflow that lets employees report hazards or accidents, routes them to supervisors for investigation, and ensures corrective actions are completed. This setup helps maintain accountability, compliance, and visibility across your safety program.
📘 Learn more: Create your first form, app, or portal in a flash

Step 1 — Create your incident report form

Start from your workspace and click + New → Form. You can start from scratch or select the Incident Report template from the Template gallery.

Or use Magic Create, describe your goal:

“A workplace incident report form that collects event details, assigns reviewers, and triggers follow-up actions.”

Why this matters: a consistent reporting structure ensures every incident is recorded and escalated properly.
📘 Learn more: How to create any form using Magic Create in Formaloo

Step 2 — Add incident and reporter details

Include essential identification and event fields:

• Reporter name (auto-filled if logged in)
  
  
• Email address / department
  
  
• Incident date and time
  
  
• Incident location
  
  
• Type of incident (Injury, Near miss, Property damage, Environmental, Other)
  
  
• Description of what happened
  
  
• Immediate action taken
  
  
• Upload photos or files (optional)
  
  

💡 Tip: add logic to show or hide fields depending on incident type.
📘 Learn more: Form editor and field types

Step 3 — Add supervisor and investigation fields

Create a section visible only to safety supervisors or managers:

• Assigned investigator
  
  
• Investigation summary
  
  
• Root cause analysis
  
  
• Severity level (Low / Medium / High / Critical)
  
  
• Corrective action required? (Yes/No)
  
  
• Status (New / Under investigation / Corrective action needed / Closed)
  
  

💡 Tip: set these as “Visible only to collaborators” so reporters can’t see internal progress.
📘 Learn more: How to edit forms and form responses

Step 4 — Add logic for automatic assignment

In Settings →  Advanced logic, set rules to route incidents:

• If Severity = High → Notify Safety Officer immediately.
  
  
• If Department = Warehouse → Assign to Supervisor A.
  
  
• If Type = Environmental → Tag Environmental team.
  📘 Learn more: How to add advanced logic to your form
  
  

Step 5 — Automate email notifications

Go to Settings → Advanced logic or Notify tab and create automated messages:

• To reporter: confirmation email with incident ID and summary.
  
  
• To supervisor: new incident assigned for review.
  
  
• To management: weekly summary of new incidents.
  
  

Use variables like @reporter_name, @incident_type, @severity_level, and @status.
📘 Learn more: How to send and receive conditional email notifications

Step 6 — Link to your investigation and corrective action forms

Create separate linked forms for:

• Investigation Report Form: details root cause, witness interviews, and recommendations.
  
  
• Corrective Action Form: outlines actions taken, responsible person, and completion date.
  
  

Connect them with linked rows, so each incident record shows its related investigations and actions.
📘 Learn more: What are linked rows and how to use them

Step 7 — Enable on-update logic for workflow tracking

Use on-update logic to automate workflow transitions:

• When Status = Under investigation → Notify investigator.
  
  
• When Status = Corrective action needed → Notify responsible person.
  
  
• When Status = Closed → Send summary to reporter.
  📘 Learn more: What is on-update logic and how it works
  
  

Step 8 — Build your incident tracking dashboard

In Results → Responses, visualize all reports in real time:

• Table view: list all incidents by severity, status, or department.
  
  
• Kanban view: group by Status (New → Under investigation → Corrective action → Closed).
  
  
• Charts: show incident frequency, root causes, and monthly safety trends.
  📘 Learn more: How to showcase charts based on form responses
  
  

Step 9 — Create your safety management portal

From your workspace, create a Health & Safety Portal.

Add pages such as:

• Report an incident (public or internal form)
  
  
• Open incidents (for supervisors)
  
  
• Investigations dashboard
  
  
• Closed cases / analytics
  
  

Set access roles so:

• Employees can submit and view only their own incidents.
  
  
• Supervisors can update investigations and corrective actions.
  
  
• Managers can view analytics and performance reports.
  📘 Learn more: How to create a portal and manage users’ access
  
  

Step 10 — Generate PDF incident summaries

Use custom PDF templates to generate official incident reports automatically, including:

• Incident details
  
  
• Investigation findings
  
  
• Root cause and corrective actions
  
  
• Signatures and timestamps
  
  

Attach these PDFs to follow-up or closure emails automatically.
📘 Learn more: How to generate custom PDFs using templates

Step 11 — Use AI to analyze safety insights

Enable AI Analyze to detect trends and predict risk areas:

• “Most common incident types by department.”
  
  
• “Average time to close an incident.”
  
  
• “Top causes of repeat issues.”
  📘 Learn more: Uncover insights and trends in your data with AI Analyze
  
  

Pro tips

• Add Memory Forms for logged-in users so reporter details auto-fill.
  
  
• Use conditional redirects to guide supervisors to the correct investigation form.
  
  
• Connect the workflow to Slack or Google Sheets for instant alerts.
  📘 Learn more: Build personalized and time-saving flows with logic, automations, and AI
  
  

Example scenario

A construction worker reports a near miss. The form automatically notifies the site supervisor and assigns an investigator. The investigator logs findings in the linked Investigation Form, which triggers a Corrective Action Form for the maintenance team. When marked as Closed, Formaloo emails a summary to management and updates the analytics dashboard.
📘 Learn more: How to create a portal and manage users’ access

FAQ

1. Can I make this form public for all staff?
Yes, you can share it publicly or restrict it to logged-in employees only.

2. Can incidents be edited after submission?
Absolutely, supervisors or admins can update status and findings in real time.

3. Can this connect to my HR or reporting tools?
Yes, integrate with Google Sheets, Slack, or external tools via integrations.
📘 Learn more: How to add integrations on Formaloo

Your safety workflow is live, report, track, and improve

You’ve built a complete health and safety workflow that ensures every incident is reported, investigated, and resolved efficiently. Keep improving it with linked dashboards, logic, and AI insights to create a safer workplace for everyone.
📘 Learn more: How to personalize ending pages and email notifications with AI

Last updated November 2025

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