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Audience, Purpose, & Style
Audience, Purpose, & Style
Audience
Audience
Should be addressed to Accident Investigation Team (if one exists) and to Supervisor/Manager
Be sure everyone who is supposed to receives the report
Purpose
Purpose
Accident Reports attempt to answer the following questions:
What happened?
Who was involved or present?
Where and when did the accident happen?
Why did the accident occur?
Is this a hazardous condition?
What can be done to prevent accidents from happening in the future.
Identify who wrote the report, when, and how to contact them.
Style
Style
In general, every construction company uses its own accident report form to collect information.
When writing the report use
Common words
One idea per sentence
No more than three numbers (or percentages) per sentence
Avoid acronyms and jargon
Include photos and relevant information as necessary
Checklist
Checklist
I. Analysis
Why is the record being created?
How, where, and when, is the record to be
formatted
stored
retrieved
How long does the record need to be kept? (This is usually a legal requirement.)
II. Evaluation
Content
Is the record closed to multiple interpretations?
Does the record contain all the required information in a concise format?
Tone
Is the record written without added opinion?
Style
Is the record written in language needed to satisfy the purpose of the documentation?
Are sentences short and direct?
Has the record been composed shortly after the event in a timely manner?
Attitude
Does the record honest and accurate?
Appearance
Is the record written so another person can read and understand it?
If a record is handwritten, is it legible?
Is the record completed in the required format?
Source: Betty Ricks and Kay F. Gow’s Business Communication: Systems and Applications (1987).
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