Incident Report Forms

Hi All,

Over last weekend we had a minor "trip and fall" incident - A patron tripped over one of the kick stools (which are everywhere) and skinned her shin. While the situation was not serious and the patron didn't want to make a fuss over it, it did bring up the need for a procedure for reporting - or at least documenting - incidents like this.

In the FORMS BOOK at circ is an Incident Report Form. Now technically, this is a staff form (meaning it is usually used for staff incident/accident/ or disciplinary actions), but according to the legal dept, we can use this same form to documant and/or report patron incidents. Naturally, you wuill just fill in the relevenat information spaces and supplement with your own narrative, if necessary.

So, in the future, if a patron does have a fall or other similar incident, please fill out an incident form - even if the patron is reluctant to do so. It would be great to get the basic contact information on the patron involved, if nothing else. But we can't force a patron to do anything, so EVEN IF THE PATRON DOES NOT WANT TO PROVIDE ANY INFORMATION, please write up the incident in your words, get input from any witnesses, and note that the patron did not want to participate in the process (this may be important if later the patron decides to sue the town or something like that).

I know this isn't overly cut and dry, so please take a monet to find the form in the book, take a look at it, and come see me if you have any questions.

Thanks!
Jess