Incident Documentation and Reporting
Why documentation matters
An incident report is a business record and may later become evidence in a criminal, administrative, or civil proceeding. It protects the server and the house when it shows a prompt, reasonable, well-documented response, and it damages them when it is vague, late, opinionated, or missing. Write it while events are fresh, on the house form, and never rewrite or discard an earlier version - correct with a dated addendum instead.
What to record
- Time and place: date, clock time of each significant event, and where it happened.
- Who: the guest's name if known, physical description, companions, and the names of staff and witnesses.
- What was served: drink type, number, and times, plus the time service was refused.
- What you observed: objective, sensory facts. Slurred speech, swaying, bloodshot eyes, spilled drink, raised voice, and exact words where relevant.
- What you did: water and food offered, refusal made, manager notified, taxi called, emergency services called, police called.
- Outcome and follow-up: how the guest left, with whom, and who was told afterwards.
Objective versus subjective
Write what a camera would have recorded, not conclusions. Not he was wasted and aggressive, but the guest stood up, held the table edge, and said loudly that he did not need a cab. Avoid speculation about medical conditions, drugs, or the guest's character, and avoid admitting fault or assigning blame in the narrative.
Traps that appear in questions
- The opinion trap: conclusions and labels weaken an otherwise good report.
- The delay trap: memory decays; reports written the next day lose detail and credibility.
- The silent refusal trap: a refusal that is never documented is hard to prove later.
- The missing-witness trap: unnamed witnesses cannot corroborate anything.
Worked rule of thumb: use FACT - Facts observed, Actions taken, Contacts made, Time recorded.