To help subscribers manage these exposures we decided to publish a second bulletin on recreation exposures that covers the use of incident reports and field trip management.
Municipalities use incident reports for different reasons.
If completed properly, they preserve information about an incident or accident that can be referred to at a later date. They also function as the starting point for claim investigations, if needed. Lastly, depending on what information is collected, they can be downloaded into a database and tracked by location, activity, time of day, etc. Incident reports are used in recreational programs where the municipality has some degree of control, such as summer camps, afterschool programs, or as part of youth or recreational leagues. In the event of litigation resulting from an incident that was documented on an incident report, the plaintiff's attorney is, in all likelihood, entitled to a copy of the report.