Simple Contract Templates for the Construction Industry

Simple Contract Templates for the Construction Industry

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Need to leverage contract templates when working with customers? This article covers how contractors can use digital contract templates to simplify the process with easy-to-use software for contract management.

It’s always a best practice to have an agreement in place when rendering services for a client. For companies with field service teams, a typical workflow is to have a contractor and their team working on site to perform maintenance, repairs, and other types of work for the client. 

Unfortunately, disputes are common and people can misunderstand the scope of work or timeline for projects. Disputes can lead to lost time, materials, and productivity, as well as potential legal risks. Having a contract or agreement in place before work begins will allow you to be in the best position should a dispute arise. Your bases are covered with a contract that clearly defines the work to be performed, clearly documenting the specifics of what’s included with the services. 

This helps avoid misunderstandings and can provide a better experience for the customer. With clearly defined contracts, the customer has a digital copy of the terms of working together and gets greater transparency into what’s included. Both parties sign off on the contract, setting a clear agreement to reference in case of a dispute.

You may be asking yourself why you can’t use a Word document, Google Document, or even a simple paper form to manage contract templates. While paperwork and word documents are common solutions, they also create a great amount of risk to your business and they create manual processes that kill productivity.

Digital forms and apps, like GoCanvas, are a better alternative to paper forms or Google documents for managing contracts. GoCanvas provides solutions built for the field, helping thousands of contracting professionals to better manage their workflows and documentation. When it comes to contract templates, there are many reasons why it makes sense to use a mobile form solution. Here is a quick comparison of GoCanvas versus paper forms and word documents:

Lost Paperwork

Losing documents is not something you can afford to do when it comes to managing your contracts. If disputes happen, you need to have the file on hand and lost paperwork would mean you are at a loss in that scenario. Unfortunately, paper forms and even word documents can become easily lost. Files can become misplaced, overwritten, or accidentally deleted from a computer. Paper forms can get lost in the shuffle between the field and office, or they can be misplaced or misfiled, making them difficult to find.

Apps for contract management like GoCanvas provide a simple solution to this problem. With documents managed in the cloud, contracts are always available in a central platform. Having files backed up and stored securely in the cloud ensures best practices for record keeping and provides an easy way to manage all signed documents.

Clear Documentation

Another benefit of using digital tools like GoCanvas is the ability to clearly date and sign contracts with electronic signatures. Digital processes allow you to require fields like a signature before a work order can be initiated, helping to ensure that agreements are signed before work kicks off. Having a signed PDF contract provides a strong record of an agreement. If changes to the scope of work are required, digital solutions like GoCanvas can help to manage this process and document updates along the way.

Improved communication.

Paperwork and word documents are simple solutions, but don’t provide the best experience for the customer. The customer may lose track of their copy of an agreement on paper, but digital solutions provide a better way to communicate with the customer. Everything is managed using digital forms and signatures, with reports available to be sent out via email to confirm the agreement and share a copy of the final PDF report. A fully digital experience is expected and appreciated by customers, who prefer to use digital channels for communication.

Easy-to-use field solution.

Paper work creates manual processes in the field when documents need to come back to the office. Plus, data entry is required once forms are back in an office, creating even more work for operations teams. Word documents were not designed to be managed in the field either, limiting the ability for field teams to use them on a mobile device. 

Solutions like GoCanvas provide an easy-to-use field solution for contractors. All of the digital forms can be completed from a mobile device or tablet, and they don’t even need an internet connection to access the apps on their phone. If contractors or agreements are collected on site by contractors, all of this can be completed from a tablet. Collect signatures, generate PDF reports, and capture all of the information needed right from a mobile device.

It’s easy to get started with GoCanvas for contract templates and other forms needed for your contracting business. Here is a brief overview on how it works:

Choose a template based on use case. Select a contract template from the GoCanvas app store, with thousands of pre-built templates for contractors. 

Customize the template based on need. GoCanvas templates are easy to customize for your business needs, allowing you to change the documents based on your specific use case or customer needs.

Assign work in the field. GoCanvas provides construction process management tools like dispatch and workflow, so you can assign, manage, and streamline work in the field.

Collect signatures on agreement. GoCanvas supports digital signatures to allow for contracts, agreements, and any other forms your contracting business uses for documentation like time cards, work orders, and more.

Receive email with copy of signed agreement. An email copy of the branded PDF report can be generated to instantly share a copy of the document or form with customers or project stakeholders.

Access documents in central cloud location. Easily access all of your documents in the cloud with GoCanvas, or integrate data with other cloud-based tools your business already uses like Dropbox, Google, and more.

To see how it works, get started by selecting a GoCanvas contract template based on your contracting business needs. You can also contact our team any time and we can walk you through the product and answer any questions you may have about leveraging digital technology for your business.

About GoCanvas

GoCanvas® is on a mission to simplify inspections and maximize compliance. Our intuitive platform takes care of the administrative tasks, freeing our customers to focus on what truly matters – safeguarding their people, protecting their equipment, and delivering exceptional quality to their customers. 

Since 2008, thousands of companies have chosen GoCanvas as their go-to partner for seamless field operations.

Check out even more resources

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Free Employee Incident Report Template

Free Employee Incident Report Template

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Incident reports are used to document when an accident or near-miss happens at work. Instead of using paper forms, many organizations choose to file incident reports digitally as PDF files that can be sent via email. Templates are commonly used to give employees a standard form to file when an incident occurs. Proper reporting is required by OSHA and it helps companies address safety issues by bringing to light any problems or potential areas for concern. 

OSHA requires employers to file timely incident reports. The employee incident report from OSHA is designed to encourage employees to fill out the document and share it with their supervisor when injuries, illnesses, or near-miss events occur. No matter how minor the event may seem, it’s important to file employee incident reports to have an accurate understanding of events in the workplace. The employee incident report gives the employee’s account of the incident, and then the supervisor also gives a separate account when investigating an accident. All of these forms are designed to capture the details of the incident and document what happened for reporting purposes.

It’s important to encourage employees to self-report incidents. You don’t want a culture where safety issues go unnoticed, as this can lead to further issues and impact employee satisfaction. Employees should feel empowered to voice concerns and share when incidents or near-miss events happen. Providing a digital incident form for employees gives them the ability to submit information on their mobile devices instantly. 

Incident report forms follow a standard template that is used to capture all of the pertinent details of the event. Here are some examples of what to include on the form:

  • Type of incident. Injury, incident, near-miss.
  • Personal details. Name of employee, name of workplace, job title, supervisor, and the date.
  • Details of incident. A detailed account of where it happened, what happened, and names of witnesses.
  • About the incident. Note if this has happened before, could have been prevented, or required medical care.

Going digital can simplify and standardize your company’s safety management programs. Here are the top three reasons to go digital:

Central, cloud-based platform for safety management

Providing a central location for employees to access and manage safety information can simplify workflows for your employees. If an incident happens, they know to open the safety app and find the appropriate form. If they need to access inspection forms, toolbox talks, and any other safety program documentation — everything is stored in a central location. This helps to increase compliance by making it easier for employees to follow safety program best practices.

 

Greater visibility into safety program results

Incident reports are one part of a safety program that you would want to analyze the data to understand patterns and trends. Are certain job sites or teams having higher than average incidents? Which teams are participating in required toolbox talks? With a digital safety management solution, you can easily view summarized data in real-time. Leveraging dashboards and analytics, your organization can use data to inform safety programs and minimize risk.

 

Avoid lost paperwork and manual workflows

Paper forms can be easily lost or misplaced over time. This ultimately creates more challenges if important documents can’t be found. Likewise, paper forms create manual work for employees to fill out paperwork, drive to an office, enter the data into a computer, or rely on mailed documents. All of these workflow challenges create extra work when performing a safety inspection, submitting an incident report, or filling out any number of other safety forms your teams use. Going digital can help automate how work gets done and streamline work for employees. Simply fill out forms using a mobile device or tablet and instantly sync information to the cloud.

GoCanvas offers a free trial where you can try out the employee incident report template. Our no-code form builder allows you to digitize paperwork, so employees can submit information from the field on a mobile device. Employees fill out the digital forms and a PDF report is automatically generated and shared with the office. GoCanvas customers have found that by digitizing their safety programs, they’re able to lower risk and liability by 18%.

Access the incident report template here on the GoCanvas App Store.

About GoCanvas

GoCanvas® is on a mission to simplify inspections and maximize compliance. Our intuitive platform takes care of the administrative tasks, freeing our customers to focus on what truly matters – safeguarding their people, protecting their equipment, and delivering exceptional quality to their customers. 

Since 2008, thousands of companies have chosen GoCanvas as their go-to partner for seamless field operations.

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A Complete Guide to Construction Daily Reports [+Templates]

A Complete Guide to Construction Daily Reports [+Templates]

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A construction daily report or daily log is a document that includes all of the details and events of a single day working on a construction project. Site managers or contractors fill out and file these reports to keep an up-to-date record of the relevant project information. The reports typically include things like a list of crew members, material and equipment usage, incidents, job progress, and more. 

The purpose of construction daily reports and logs is to provide a detailed description of an ongoing construction project. The daily report includes anything that the stakeholders, investors, project owners, and contractors need to know about that project.

These reports are useful for keeping everyone on the same page. They help to make sure that everyone is aware of any potential delays and that they are getting updates on the progress that is being made toward project completion.

Given how essential these documents are to the project’s success, it’s important that your construction daily reports and logs are accurate and thorough. That’s why we’ve created a complete guide to writing construction daily reports. Continue reading this article for everything you need to know about creating and filing your documents.

Here are four basic steps to follow when writing your construction daily reports:

The very first step in creating a construction daily report is drafting the cover page. A cover page provides basic information about the project, including the project name, the date, the location of the job site, and your name. The report’s cover page lets you and your client know at first glance what’s inside.

The majority of a construction daily log will include essential information and even minute details about the project. Recording these details of your project will be the most involved step in creating your daily report. 

Make sure to complete the report in a timely manner and don’t wait until the end of the workday to try and complete the entire daily report. You should add information to your report every hour or so throughout the day, or any time a significant event occurs.

Timely recording can also reduce the chance that you’ll forget important details about the project that day. Consider leveraging technology like construction project management software that can streamline the process and simplify your workflow for creating reports.

Don’t forget to sign and date your construction daily reports, as this makes them official. Once work at the job site is finished, you should set aside some dedicated time to review your completed report to look for any mistakes and review the progress your team made. 

When you’re satisfied with your report, sign, and date it. Making this part of your routine helps you ensure that the daily report is accurate and completed at the end of every day.

Once you’ve reviewed and signed your construction daily report, be sure to promptly send it to your client. Construction software apps for daily reports can streamline the process for sending these documents to your clients. Apps can enable you to create your reports digitally and send them instantly to your client or other team members in real-time.

Construction daily reports provide the most accurate picture of what goes on at the job site. That’s why it’s important to include as many details as possible when creating your report. Here are ten must-have sections to include in your construction daily reports and logs:

The first section should include specific details about the job or project, including things like the job name, the job type, and the job number.

You should also include a brief description of the phase the job is in. For example, you should note if the workday included demolition, groundbreaking, framing, and so on.

It’s best to record all crew members present at the job site. This information helps you cover your bases in case questions arise concerning attendance or payroll. 

A crew list also helps promote safety in your work environment. Knowing who is on the site will help you ensure you’ve got enough workers to complete daily tasks and that no one is being stretched beyond their limits to work safely.

Your documentation should include the weather report for that day, including things like temperature, wind speeds, and any precipitation. 

Bad weather can bring your workday (and sometimes your work week) to a grinding halt, so it’s important to note the conditions of each day so you can record delays that are caused by the weather.

In this section, detail project completions and progress that occurred. Make sure to record individual tasks and what took place to move them forward, as well as include the job’s progress as a whole. 

Some days, you might have to note that no progress was made or that you’re experiencing delays because of material or staff issues. Even if the project doesn’t see forward progress, document what’s been done and the overall status of the job.

Sometimes you might have visitors to the construction site. These visitors could include investors, reporters, company leadership, and even family. 

Any time someone other than your crew enters the work site, you should record it in your daily report. This helps you stay compliant and provide accurate paperwork should an accident occur on-site.

All heavy machinery on a worksite must be accounted for. You’ll need to include the equipment present and how many hours each machine was used. 

Even if a piece of machinery wasn’t used that day, note that it was parked at the site. This documentation provides information that can be used to maintain the equipment and ensure that every piece is where it should be.

A daily construction report also helps you keep track of the amount of materials available each day, as well as the quantity of those materials used. 

This data gives you a clear picture of how much progress a crew makes each day. It also helps you to plan new orders by knowing what you begin and end each day with for materials.

Material deliveries go hand-in-hand with material quantities. Knowing how many and which building materials arrived on-site ensures that your company receives the shipments they’re paying for. 

You should make a note if a shipment doesn’t arrive as scheduled. If your crew is delayed in completing tasks due to a lack of materials, you will then have a record of the missed delivery and show that you’re not at fault.

A late material delivery can cause severe delays at your work site. But that’s not the only reason for slowed or even halted progress

Your daily construction report needs to include any event that caused a delay or could potentially cause a delay. These events could be things like a significant crew absence, weather, or malfunctioning equipment, for example.

Safety is the number one goal for all contractors. But when incidents occur, you are required to report them.

Your daily reports should note both significant incidents, as well as any near misses that occur. In addition to your daily report, you are also required to formally file a separate incident report.

Consider using incident report apps that can help with the process and provide templates to use when incidents happen for creating the reports and sharing them with all the appropriate parties.

Construction daily reports offer more than just a record of what occurred on a work site. When utilized correctly, they can also serve as tools to help you improve your services. Here are three ways your daily logs can improve your team’s productivity and quality:

Construction daily reports are more than just progress notes for the client. You can also gauge the efficiency of your entire operation by reviewing and analyzing the data on your reports.

Mobile apps can help to create your reports and then the data is available so you can see the full picture of your team’s progress and if they are completing tasks to your standards.

Every company wants to save money, without cutting any corners. Your daily reports provide valuable data about money spent on materials, employees, and more.

Data from your reports can help you to discover patterns and trends. It can help to understand when and why a job is being delayed. By analyzing this information, you can discover patterns in spending, and where budgets can be restructured to save both time and money.

Digitizing your daily reports through mobile apps can help to ensure that you’re collecting the right information and the data is easily accessible in the form of analytics that provides useful insights for your operations team.

Daily logs detail everything that happens on a job site and they can help you see what you’re doing well and what can be improved. 

Digitizing this information and making it more accessible will enable your team to find better, faster, and even safer ways to complete your projects. 

When you complete your reports on an app, the reports can instantly be sent to the office, clients, and other team members who need access in real-time. This helps to streamline workflows, save time for your employees, and improve the processes that are in place for sharing and communicating documentation for your business.

Construction daily reports contain essential information for documenting the progress and status of your projects. Consider implementing simple mobile apps for contractors that can help you to easily capture the details of a day on your site with digital documentation.

Your peers in the construction industry have found that these tools give them a competitive advantage, increase productivity, and eliminate much of the time spent on paperwork and other manual tasks.

All of this can lead to greater profitability for your business, projects completed on schedule, and increased satisfaction and retention of your workers with modern processes in place to help them succeed.

Many contractors and construction firms are moving their daily logs to the digital format using mobile apps to record daily logs and create PDF reports. This technology works well for the construction industry because it provides mobility and ease of use for many people to enter the required information into mobile forms. 

Once the information is collected, it’s instantly shared as a formatted report and the data can be used for reporting and analytics purposes. The end result is a more efficient way to collect information in the field and greater visibility into operations. 

This saves valuable time by reducing manual paperwork and outdated processes and it gives the business insights needed to make decisions that help the business operate in smarter ways.

The construction daily log makes it simple to keep track of a daily report of work performed and noteworthy updates that occur daily on a job site. The mobile app can be completed using a tablet or a phone to ensure that all of the important data from the field is captured and shared back with the office.

The mobile app can also be used as a time-tracking tool, helping to eliminate paperwork for managers on-site. The daily log is designed for documenting all employee’s activities so that management can monitor productivity in real-time to avoid potential delays. 

How it works:

  • Capture images of work completed
  • Add details about potential safety hazards and other daily work details
  • A digital report is automatically generated and sent to the construction manager, general contractor, and safety managers.
  • Customize the app to add specific inspections or other required documentation that is required for your job site.
example of a construction daily report template

Looking for a specific template to use based on the type of subcontractor work? Follow the links below to find additional examples and templates by use case.

  • Carpenter Daily Log
  • Cleaning Crew Daily Log
  • Drywall Daily Log
  • Electrical Daily Log
  • Fire Sprinkler Installer Daily Log
  • Heavy Equipment Operator Daily Log
  • HVAC Daily Log
  • Mold Remediation Daily Log
  • Painting Daily Log
  • Plumbing Daily Log
  • Roofing Daily Log

About GoCanvas

GoCanvas® is on a mission to simplify inspections and maximize compliance. Our intuitive platform takes care of the administrative tasks, freeing our customers to focus on what truly matters – safeguarding their people, protecting their equipment, and delivering exceptional quality to their customers. 

Since 2008, thousands of companies have chosen GoCanvas as their go-to partner for seamless field operations.

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Ultimate Guide to Safety Management Software for Construction

Ultimate Guide to Safety Management Software for Construction

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Construction firms rely on paper forms to complete many essential tasks on job sites. But anyone that’s had to fill out paperwork knows how inefficient, error-prone, and time-consuming the process can be for everyone involved. That’s why organizations are moving to construction jobsite management software and mobile forms to alleviate these concerns.

Going from paper to digital software and forms allows construction companies to:

  • Avoid losing paperwork. Paper sheets can get lost over time, creating additional risk for the business when information is misplaced or accidentally destroyed. Going digital keeps information secure in the cloud and available in real-time whenever it’s needed.
  • Limit human error. Paper sheets or spreadsheets can open companies up to human error with mispellings, deleted or missing information, and much more. Going digital allows companies to require what information is submitted, leading to better data quality and standardization.
  • Save time and money. Considering the direct and indirect costs to a business from paper usage, companies can save time and money by switching to digital forms and software. Automate processes, streamline workflows, and reduce the time everyone spends on busywork.

There is a very compelling business case for construction firms to embrace digitization with software and mobile forms. With the amount of paper and forms needed for safety management programs, there is a significant advantage for firms that can digitize their operations.

This article explains how safety management software works, with examples of the types of solutions utilized within a safety management program. Continue reading for our guide to the types of safety management software and forms that are available to construction firms today.

Construction firms use incident reports to formally document any accidents, events, or near-misses in the workplace.

Software and forms are designed to help companies capture information from the job site when incidents happen. The technology helps to document the incident and create a report detailing the events that occurred. This type of solution is used in situations like damage to company property, injuries, safety issues, misconduct, and other types of incident reporting. 

Going digital with incident reporting simplifies the process for everyone involved.

Templates can be customized with the exact information that needs to be collected on every incident report. Companies can create unique digital forms for the various types of workplace incidents that occur.

Software solutions are designed to significantly cut down the time it takes to create a report. Reports are typically generated automatically so they can be distributed in real-time via email to OSHA, management, and anyone else that needs the information.

Companies chose to use this type of software and forms for incident reporting to streamline workflows for employees and give greater visibility into operations for management.

Inspections happen during the entire lifecycle of construction projects to make sure that safety standards are being met. While paper forms can be used for inspections, there are many benefits to going digital with software and forms for inspections.

Most inspection software will allow companies to build checklists, conduct inspections, and file all reports from a mobile device or tablet on the job site. This helps to streamline the process for inspectors by giving them a standard set of criteria to look for in the inspection. All of the data for reporting is collected using required fields that ensure data is formatted correctly. 

Digital inspection software can also enable businesses to use a dispatching feature to send workers in the field to the correct locations. The entire inspection process can be recorded digitally, signed off on with digital signatures, and saved in the cloud to be accessed by whoever needs to see it. 

Software and forms for inspections give companies greater accountability and visibility into their operations, allowing management to spot trends and look for ways to improve their safety management programs in real-time.

Construction safety meetings are held regularly as group discussions that focus on one specific safety issue. Companies typically hold these meetings on a monthly, weekly, or daily basis.

Effective safety meetings can deliver significant and proven safety and cost benefits to an organization. Implementing safety meetings can help to decrease insurance rates, legal costs, employee turnover, damaged equipment, and medical costs.

Construction firms can use safety management software to formalize their safety meeting programs across job sites.

With software for safety meetings, your team can complete safety documentation from any mobile phone or tablet. Using required attendance logs, you can collect the names and IDs of every employee at each worksite to ensure they are present for the latest safety information. 

Companies can also capture details related to the job site location, project manager, as well as date and time stamps for every briefing. An integrated signature capture field means employees can verify their attendance and signatures can be collected from a foreman or any other safety representative who makes an onsite visit.

Using software and forms for safety meetings helps to ensure that compliance measures are met for every meeting and management teams get greater visibility into overall safety trends. 

Job Safety Analysis is a step-by-step procedure that splits each job into manageable training tasks, identifies the safety components in each task, and trains employees on how to avoid safety hazards.

Job safety analysis pinpoints specific areas that have potential safety risks and helps you keep your workers safe. It also helps your company become compliant with safety guidelines thus reducing your employee turnover and instilling trust in your customers. 

Software and forms for JSA are helpful for construction companies to cover safety procedures on job sites, including personal protective equipment, safety training, and machinery safety. The construction safety analysis can be customized to suit the unique needs of a company. 

Job safety analysis is another important component of safety programs and going digital can help to streamline the process across construction job sites.

For companies that manufacture, distribute, or import chemicals, safety data sheets are required to inform employees of the hazardous materials they are handling. 

As more companies invest in digitization, it means that companies are moving towards housing much of their critical information in secure, cloud-based platforms using software and mobile forms. 

When it comes to SDSs, OSHA indicates that safety data sheets can absolutely be stored as digital documents. OSHA just requires that these SDSs are easily accessible for all employees who need to understand the hazardous chemicals that are being used for their job site. 

Having these documents stored digitally and made available through a mobile application will help your team manage the documents and ensure that your workers know where to find the latest version of the SDS. 

In the rare case of a power outage or emergency situation, it makes sense to have a hard copy of your SDS available for workers. But otherwise in today’s digitally connected world, it’s going to make sense to have digital copies available for your SDSs that can be readily accessible in a secure mobile device on-site.

Data analytics is quickly becoming one of the greatest assets for improving productivity, ensuring safety and compliance, and tracking and reporting on key elements of business operations.

Another key component of a safety management solution using is the ability to have analytics and data insights available.

This type of software solution is helpful for providing meaningful insights in real-time. Instead of compiling information on paper forms and manually creating reports for analytics, companies are adopting this type of analytics solution as part of their technology stack.

Having this type of insight into the business helps inform decision-making for management and operations, giving unprecedented insights into where there are opportunities to improve.

GoCanvas is a mobile platform that makes it simple for businesses to automate how work is done, replacing outdated processes and expensive paperwork. The GoCanvas App works on smartphones and tablets, helping companies easily collect information across their organization, share it instantly with others, and gain real-time insight into their business. Construction firms rely on GoCanvas to increase productivity, promote workplace safety, and create a competitive advantage. You can learn more about all of our safety management software solutions and forms here on our website.

About GoCanvas

GoCanvas® is on a mission to simplify inspections and maximize compliance. Our intuitive platform takes care of the administrative tasks, freeing our customers to focus on what truly matters – safeguarding their people, protecting their equipment, and delivering exceptional quality to their customers. 

Since 2008, thousands of companies have chosen GoCanvas as their go-to partner for seamless field operations.

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What Is Near Miss Reporting?

What Is Near Miss Reporting?

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It’s impossible to stress how important workplace safety is for a successful business. Proper safety protocols and procedures not only protect your valuable team and assets but prevent costly disruptions to efficiency and production. Even the safest workplaces have incidents and accidents, though. Routine reporting of any accidents to analyze risk and safety procedures is an essential step in tackling issues and refining policies to provide a safer workplace.

Though “near miss” incidents –incidents where no one harm was done but potentially could’ve been– reveal the same vulnerabilities in safety procedure, they are often neglected in reporting. Below, we’ll discuss the advantages of diligently reporting near misses, and the advantages an organization can gain by taking all incidents seriously while developing its safety ecosystem.

What is a near miss report?

OSHA defines a near miss incident as a close call in which a worker might have been hurt if the circumstances had been slightly different. Beyond the scope of the OSHA definition, many organizations also include potential harm to valuable equipment or infrastructure as near miss incidents. Near miss reports should be filed with the same diligence as every other incident, as they still shed light on vulnerabilities in safety protocols.

Near miss incidents are often reported through the same means for normal incident reports. An organization should account for these reports and be able to accept both while still being able to differentiate between the two. If your company is using a comprehensive safety management solution, users are able to quickly and anonymously submit reports of either near miss, or typical incidents from a mobile app.

Near miss reports should be taken seriously, and they should be treated with the same importance as harmful incident reports. Near miss incidents not only can shake up workers’ morale when they see vulnerabilities in safety protocols first-hand, but they can shed valuable light on problems allowing them to be rectified before serious harm occurs. Organizations that have a healthy reporting system for near miss reports will not only suffer less costly incidents but increase morale by proving to workers that safety is important if proper attention is applied to reports.

Organizations can’t afford to neglect near miss reporting. Near misses can easily be early warning signs of problems to come and represent vulnerabilities in safety that can’t be overlooked. Incorporating reporting for near miss incidents into safety and operations planning can have many advantages that can be leveraged by organizations to increase safety and efficiency overall.

Near miss reporting can be important warnings of more serious issues. Paying the same attention to investigating near miss incidents as you would a serious injury can yield valuable insights into safety issues without the monetary cost of serious injury or incident.

OSHA outlines the importance of root cause analysis during incident investigation in a 2016 fact sheet, saying “By conducting a root cause analysis and addressing root causes, an employer may be able to substantially or completely prevent the same or similar incident from recurring. Conducting the same root cause analysis on near miss incidents informs your safety policy, potentially preventing harmful incidents before they occur.

Near miss reporting is often described as a free lesson because it enables companies to proactively resolve hazards before a tragic or costly incident occurs. When a worker discovers a potentially dangerous situation, completing a near miss report means the risk can be resolved before it causes harm to their teammates.

When your crew knows that their safety is a priority within your business, morale inevitably goes up. Providing your workers with the resources and training to identify and report near misses helps them know that their well-being is an important aspect of daily operations. This encourages them to be more safety-minded in all their duties and can increase compliance and reporting across your entire organization. Safety culture develops from example. As your employees see that safety is an organizationally fundamental value for your company, it will become a culturally important value to them.

It is vitally important to train your crew on what defines a near miss, why it is important to report such hazards, and to lay out a clear reporting process. Many organizations streamline the reporting process with safety management software that includes established checklists and forms for near miss reports. Using a digital solution gives workers the opportunity for anonymous reporting and improves efficiency and mistakes by limiting paperwork.

If cultivating a culture of safety within your organization starts with training and example, it ends with trust. The goal of near miss reports is to keep your workers safe and get them looking out for possible risks. Positive safety culture comes when your team trusts that you are looking out for their best interest, but if your investigations are focused on blame rather than root cause analysis and risk mitigation, your safety culture can quickly begin to feel like a witch hunt to your employees. This discourages their participation in safety reporting and procedures and disengages them as a whole from safety culture.

As near miss incidents have no damage or accident, they are an excellent opportunity to show your team that reporting is about focusing on their safety in the future, not about assigning blame and punishing mistakes. This promotes a culture where employees feel comfortable reporting incidents and safety shortcomings, which promotes a safer and more efficient business.

Safety managers can use data from near miss reporting to improve training programs, develop safer work processes, educate personnel at daily safety meetings, and fix any faulty equipment that could lead to an accident. Prevention is the core of safety, and proactive safety programs can be developed from compiling near miss data, giving employers the opportunity to resolve systemic risks and provide their crew with the latest safety measures on a daily basis.

Workplace safety is impossible without sufficient training to inform workers of possible risks and how to safely manage tasks. Near miss reporting gives important data about possible incidents and accidents, allowing the development of more comprehensive training to prevent issues in the future.

Without adequate near miss reporting, systemic safety issues don’t become obvious until costly accidents already occur. Near miss reports give an organization the opportunity to address close calls as warning signs to refine their procedures going forward.

Maintaining, investigating, and acting on reports for near miss incidents can ensure compliance with various human resources and safety regulations. While regulatory requirements will vary greatly depending on location, more transparency and a documented history of an effort to improve safety will always be of benefit to compliance.

More data potentially could shield you from liabilities in the future. History of acting to rectify safety issues revealed by near miss incidents can be a strong refutation of future negligence suits or fines. Transparency is important in communication with investors as well and proving that you have a track record of promoting safety as an organization is promising for them to see.

Safe workers are much more likely to be happy workers in the long run. If no action was taken on a near miss incident, workers will be more worried and timid, and may actually find temporary solutions to the problem that are even less safe. If near miss incidents aren’t taken seriously or even accepted at all, it can make workers feel like their employer does not care about their safety. This can destroy morale and make productivity and profitability suffer.  Worst, it puts the people who make your organization run at risk. Employers have a responsibility to protect their employees. Employees are happier, more engaged, and more productive when they see this duty being met.

A safety management program that neglects near miss reports is missing one of its biggest assets to develop sustainable solutions. Such a system will never reach its potential in preventative safety. Near miss incident reporting is absolutely required to see problems before they arise to better craft safety procedures that avoid those issues in the future.

Near miss incident reports can also serve to engage employees in safety programs. This personnel is your first line of defense against risks, and they should know it. Communicating to your team that they can help manage risk with reporting of near miss incidents along with showing them that the organization will act to improve safety based on those reports will help build a culture of safety that can vastly improve the effectiveness of a safety management program.

Streamlining a safety management program to accommodate near miss reporting can be easily accomplished with safety management software. These solutions offer standardization of documentation and convenient reporting for all types of incidents. The increased accessibility of remote access and mobile compatibility not only make personnel more likely to document incidents but also make it more efficient to process and compile data from reports.

GoCanvas offers comprehensive security management software solutions that can give you the tools you need to increase safety and efficiency. Incident reports can be entered remotely and fielded immediately, cutting out any time-consuming red tape, so you can react to risks more quickly, more efficiently, and more effectively. Click here to see how safety management software can help you today.

About GoCanvas

GoCanvas® is on a mission to simplify inspections and maximize compliance. Our intuitive platform takes care of the administrative tasks, freeing our customers to focus on what truly matters – safeguarding their people, protecting their equipment, and delivering exceptional quality to their customers. 

Since 2008, thousands of companies have chosen GoCanvas as their go-to partner for seamless field operations.

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What are the Main Stages and Processes of Incident Reporting?

What are the Main Stages and Processes of Incident Reporting?

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Incident reports are effective tools to promote safety in the workplace. You want to do everything in your power to fill out your incident reports as professionally and effectively as possible. We have compiled a thorough list of the main incident reporting stages so you can ensure you’re taking every step to foster a culture of safety in the workplace. Here are the main stages and processes to consider for incident reporting: 

You should begin the process of incident reporting as soon as an incident or near-miss occurs. Your initial responses should include administering any medical aid that’s necessary, containing spills, and calling the authorities if needed.

You should also contact your company leadership team so they’re aware of the situation and can begin reporting protocols right away. Your leadership team will ensure other team members have left the danger zone and are out of harm’s way.

You can then begin formal documentation once you’ve secured everyone’s safety and notified supervisors. 

You will need to start your incident reporting by getting formal and accurate documentation immediately after the event has occurred.

You will first want to make sure that your teams have shut down any equipment and that any hazards or spills have been contained. As soon as it’s safe to do so, you will need to preserve the scene of the incident and begin recording the details of the event by taking photographs and videos of the scene.

You will want to begin your documentation before equipment or other materials have been moved for clean-up purposes so that you are getting an accurate picture of the scene. In some instances, you may also want to use tape or cones to prevent team members from compromising the scene before you have had a chance to fully document the incident. 

It’s critical that you record as many details as possible so the investigative team can have the most complete picture of what happened and what led to the event. Here are a few important details that you will want to include when surveying the scene:

  1. Equipment involved in the incident
  2. Cleanliness of the area as well as obvious hazards, such as spills
  3. Weather conditions 
  4. Lighting and noise
  5. The presence or lack of safety guards and safety equipment
  6. General location, date, and time of the incident

Gathering witness testimony is one of the most crucial components of incident reporting and interviewing witnesses in a timely manner will increase your chances of acquiring accurate details about the event. You can move toward collecting information from witnesses once you have finished documenting the scene of the event.

Contact the supervisor to get the names and contact information from anyone that was present and promptly begin interviewing the witnesses. You don’t want to delay these interviews because it’s possible that the memories of witnesses can become blurred with the passage of time – particularly in the case of a traumatic accident or near-miss.

To help you maximize your witness interviews, here are some helpful tips to consider:

  • When possible, conduct your interviews at the scene of the incident to help witnesses remember some of the more minute details of the incident. 
  • Assure witnesses that your job is to gather information and not to place blame. Emphasize that their honesty is crucial to the safety of the workplace and that incident reporting helps to prevent future accidents.
  • Allow witnesses time to think and retell the incident. Ask open-ended questions. 
  • Interview witnesses privately. This gives them the opportunity to recall their own memories of the event and not fall under the influence of another witness’s testimony. 

You should record all this information as thoroughly as possible. In addition to written notes, consider using an audio recorder or filming witness interviews so you don’t miss any crucial details.

It’s best to discuss interview methods with supervisors or leadership before you begin. After an incident, workers might be afraid of providing their testimony, so you will want to make sure they feel safe and supported throughout the process.

You should compile a formal incident report once you’ve gathered all of the pertinent information. OSHA requires workplaces to file incident reports on accidents, injuries, and even near-misses. The administration also provides helpful forms to ensure you record and submit your incident reports correctly. 

In certain cases, you will need to submit the report to the appropriate authorities once the report has been completed. For example, this would apply in instances where there’s been a fatality, a hazardous spill, or any other major event where there are statutory requirements for you to disclose this information to the proper authorities. 

After you file your incident report, you now must work to determine how and why the incident occurred in the first place. This process of investigating a workplace incident is often referred to as a root cause analysis.

You or your investigative team will need to conduct a root cause analysis to locate the gaps in your safety protocols and systems so that you can determine the “root causes” of an incident. OSHA provides a helpful guide for determining the root causes of an incident and this guide outlines helpful questions to ask when executing your investigation.

This guide can help you to consider the incident from multiple viewpoints and ensure you are performing a thorough examination of the incident. 

Once the investigation has been completed, you can start to take steps to prevent a similar incident from occurring again in the future. Your team can implement the corrective actions that are needed to cultivate a culture of workplace safety that’s in the best interest of the organization and its employees. 

The first place to start with your corrective action plan is to understand the safety and quality standards for your workplace. Once you have a solid grasp on these standards, you can begin to plan specific ways of preventing future harm and educating team members on how to practice workplace safety. 

For example, this could be anything from stressing the importance of wearing safety gear to dedicated training on safe equipment use. Your corrective action plans should be tailored to your specific workplace and the weaknesses that you uncovered in the incident investigation. 

Incident reports are an important part of creating a safe and productive workplace for all your team members. When you take the necessary steps to complete the incident reports, you’re enabling the company to take the appropriate corrective actions, and this will allow the company to be more prepared going forward. At the end of the day, it’s all about doing everything you can to foster a safer working environment for everyone.

About GoCanvas

GoCanvas® is on a mission to simplify inspections and maximize compliance. Our intuitive platform takes care of the administrative tasks, freeing our customers to focus on what truly matters – safeguarding their people, protecting their equipment, and delivering exceptional quality to their customers. 

Since 2008, thousands of companies have chosen GoCanvas as their go-to partner for seamless field operations.

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Incident Report Examples & Templates

Incident Report Examples & Templates

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Knowing how to effectively file incident reports is a critical component for companies that want to cultivate their culture of safety at work. Incident reports are designed to document the important details surrounding an accident, incident, or near miss that happens in the workplace. 

These reports are incredibly useful for informing companies on the real gaps that exist in their safety protocols, ultimately allowing them to address these issues by implementing new policies and protocols to prevent future incidents from occurring. 

In this article, we cover three of the most common incident report types and the corresponding report templates that you can use. Continue reading for examples and templates to use when these types of incidents happen at your workplace:

  • Basic Incident Report
  • Field Incident Report
  • Construction Accident Investigation Report

If you need a basic template to get started, make sure to check out our basic incident report template that’s free to get started with using the GoCanvas app store. Our template includes the most common information to include in a basic incident report and it can be fully customized to meet your company’s specific requirements.

Picture of an incident report template

Basic incident reports work for a variety of types of incidents, giving you a flexible template that can be used for different types of accidents, near misses, or injuries. A basic incident report template should include all the essential details that you and the investigative teams will need to fill out following the incident. 

Wondering how often basic incidents occur? If you look at the most recent findings from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, it shows that the rate of recordable incidents in the private industry was at 2.8 percent among full-time workers. The data shows that nearly 900,000 incidents resulted in lost time when looking across all of the reported incidents in a given year.

A basic incident report needs to include all the details the investigative team will need to evaluate during their review, including: 

  • Location, date, and time of the incident
  • Witnesses and their contact information 
  • Witness testimonies 
  • Those involved in the incident
  • Actions that were taken post-incident 
  • Injuries incurred
  • Medical treatment administered 

When an incident happens in the field a report must be filled out and sent to the proper authorities. Get started for free on the GoCanvas app store, using our field incident report template that allows your field teams to use a mobile device or tablet when submitting their reports.

Picture of a field incident template

You will need to use a field incident report for any work-related injuries that occur offsite or outside of company property. Field incident claims are typically more complicated than claims filed for an on-site incident. With that in mind, you should make sure to be thorough when collecting the details of a field incident to ensure that claims are efficiently processed.

In addition to all the information included on a basic incident report, field incident reports should also include the location of the accident and the address of the workplace.

The perfect tool for any construction company is available through the GoCanvas app store using our construction accident investigation template. Use this resource so that your construction company is prepared when a workplace accident occurs.

Picture of a construction accident template

You know that the construction industry presents a wide range of hazards and dangers. Construction accident investigation reports are crucial to identifying weak points in safety protocols and they can actually help your business establish better safety practices. These reports can help your company and they can also help inform the entire construction industry on how to better minimize injuries on job sites. 

If you look at data provided by OSHA, you will see that construction accidents are the most common type of reportable incident and about 20 percent of fatalities in private industry are in construction. The most commonly violated OSHA standard is fall protection, which falls under the construction sector. 

In addition to all the information required on a basic incident report form, a construction accident investigation report should also include the name of the contractor, the name of site foreman, and any violations that were issued. 

Documenting incidents and injuries is crucial for promoting a culture of safety in the workplace. With incident report templates on hand, you’ll be able to document any accidents when they happen, and your team can work to improve its protocols for a safer workplace. 

If you’re looking for additional incident report templates that we didn’t cover in this article, be sure to check out more examples of incident reports in our app store. We have hundreds of pre-built forms to help you get started and our product has a variety of features that will fit all your business needs.

About GoCanvas

GoCanvas® is on a mission to simplify inspections and maximize compliance. Our intuitive platform takes care of the administrative tasks, freeing our customers to focus on what truly matters – safeguarding their people, protecting their equipment, and delivering exceptional quality to their customers. 

Since 2008, thousands of companies have chosen GoCanvas as their go-to partner for seamless field operations.

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Three Key Benefits of Near Miss Reporting

Three Key Benefits of Near Miss Reporting

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Near miss reporting is often described as a free lesson because it enables companies to proactively resolve hazards before a tragic or costly incident occurs. When a worker discovers a potentially dangerous situation, completing a near miss report means the risk can be resolved before it causes harm to their teammates.

Additionally, safety managers can use data from near miss reporting to improve training programs, develop safer work processes, and fix any faulty equipment that could lead to an accident. Proactive safety programs can be developed from compiling near miss data, giving employers the opportunity to resolve systemic risks and provide their crew with the latest safety measures on a daily basis.

When your crew knows that their safety is a priority within your business, morale inevitably goes up. Providing your workers with the resources and training to identify and report near misses helps them know that their well-being is an important aspect of daily operations.

It is important to train your crew on what defines a near miss, why it is important to report such hazards and to lay out a clear reporting process. Many organizations streamline the reporting process with safety management software that includes established checklists and forms for near miss reports. Using a digital solution also gives workers the opportunity for anonymous reporting and saves time that would be spent filling out and delivering paperwork.

As you establish safety programs, remember that the goal of near miss reports is to keep your workers safe and get them looking out for possible risks. This could even include making the narrative around reporting to focus on learning lessons and good catches, rather than a blame game and punitive measures. So many workers may feel uncomfortable reporting near misses for a variety of reasons. You’ll want to change the outlook to recognize their efforts and celebrate the fact that you’re growing safer at your company every day.

Reporting a near miss can ensure that future incidents and injuries are avoided. It keeps your workers safe and helps companies reduce the costs associated with workplace incidents, such as medical expenses, time lost due to injury, accident investigation, and equipment replacement.

Preventing accidents before they happen also means that your worksites can naturally keep up with the latest OSHA regulations. Potential hazards and risks will be removed as they are reported, which means a safer worksite that meets compliance requirements. 


Looking for a safety solution that will provide the benefits of near miss reporting to your team? GoCanvas Safety includes pre-built digital forms so you can streamline your reporting and resolve hazards before incidents occur. Customizable reports and turn-key dashboards mean you can regularly audit and update your safety program, so you can focus on the human factors to keep your team safe. Learn more here.

About GoCanvas

GoCanvas® is on a mission to simplify inspections and maximize compliance. Our intuitive platform takes care of the administrative tasks, freeing our customers to focus on what truly matters – safeguarding their people, protecting their equipment, and delivering exceptional quality to their customers. 

Since 2008, thousands of companies have chosen GoCanvas as their go-to partner for seamless field operations.

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Five Ways Safety Management Software Can Help Your Business

Five Ways Safety Management Software Can Help Your Business

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Every day on a jobsite brings different challenges and risks. It is important that no matter the circumstances, your crew is being provided consistent messaging as well as capturing consistent information.

Safety management software helps your team maintain consistency in delivering and documenting data. Standardized forms with required fields and established checklists ensure that the proper information is conveyed and collected for every situation. 

Safety software also helps with accuracy, so when the same tasks are repeated, workers can focus on the procedure without forgetting key pieces of information.

There are times when your teams will have to report to multiple locations, or be spread out across massive worksites. This presents a challenge to make sure the latest safety forms and regulations are distributed in a timely manner.

With many safety software solutions, your crew can get the latest versions of necessary forms on their mobile devices or company tablets. Workers can rapidly complete incident or hazard reports and send them directly to your office systems, so you can keep your team aware and safe.

So much time is wasted trying to collect paper forms from various jobsites, not to mention the amount of effort needed to decipher, catalog, and report on data from multiple sources. 

With the right safety management software, you won’t lose time to waiting for paper forms from daily briefings to be returned at the end of the day or managing documents from multiple worksites. Any standard forms completed by your team can be immediately sent via the safety software, which means you can store and track important data in a single system. 

When it comes to keeping your team safe, it is vital that workers stay up-to-date on the latest OSHA regulations and compliance issues. As you are sharing this information, it is also important to be able to confirm and track who has attended daily briefings, completed certifications, and other safety program milestones.

Safety management software often includes required attendance logs, so you can collect the names and IDs of every employee at each worksite to ensure they are present for the latest daily briefings and toolbox talks. Plus, you can capture details related to the jobsite location, project manager, as well as date and time stamps for every briefing.

Digital safety forms can also include an integrated signature capture field, which means you can have employees verify their attendance and you can collect signatures from your foreman and any safety representative who makes an onsite visit, ensuring compliance measures are met for every situation.

When workers know that their safety is a priority within your business, worksite morale inevitably goes up. Your crew and contractors want to know that their well-being is an important aspect of daily operations. 

Safety management software ensures that your team is informed of the latest potential risks and related precautions, so they know how to stay safe and have confidence that their safety is a priority. 

Using safety software can also provide real-time visibility of your current Certification Programs (including expiration dates and IDs) and active incident reporting. You can quickly share safety program data with customers, fulfilling SLA requirements so you can get jobs done faster while keeping your team safe.


Looking for a safety management software that will provide these benefits to your team? GoCanvas Safety includes pre-built digital forms so you can streamline your planning and ensure that you collect accurate and complete information for every job. Customizable reports and turn-key dashboards mean you can regularly audit and update your safety program, so you can focus on the human factors to keep your team safe. Learn more here.

About GoCanvas

GoCanvas® is on a mission to simplify inspections and maximize compliance. Our intuitive platform takes care of the administrative tasks, freeing our customers to focus on what truly matters – safeguarding their people, protecting their equipment, and delivering exceptional quality to their customers. 

Since 2008, thousands of companies have chosen GoCanvas as their go-to partner for seamless field operations.

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How Small Business Revenues have been Impacted by COVID-19

How Small Business Revenues have been Impacted by COVID-19

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GoCanvas surveyed its customer base, as well as other small business leaders, in June 2020 about their industry outlook as a result of the global pandemic. This blog post highlights our initial findings. Data from this GoCanvas Small Business Report is sourced from 270 small businesses within a varying spread of industries.  

  • 17.9% – Specialty Trade Contractors 
  • 13.6% – Building, Equipment, Electrical, Plumbing, HVAC 
  • 8.1% – Transportation Logistics 
  • 7% – Healthcare 
  • 5.5% – Foundation, Structure, & Building Exterior Contractors

Business Outlook Pre- vs. Post-COVID-19

The global pandemic forced many small businesses to halt operations, furlough employees, and increase precautions for contractors, suppliers, and vendors. While a strong proportion of small businesses cite overall confidence in their ability to return to normal operating levels, the short-term impact of the pandemic is felt across industries. 

On a scale of 1-10, please rate the outlook for your business BEFORE COVID-19 (1-Pessimistic; 10-Optimistic)

On a scale of 1-10, please rate the outlook for your business AFTER COVID-19 (1-Pessimistic; 10-Optimistic)

Per the visuals above, it will likely take time for small businesses to return to their originally forecasted operating levels. As of June 2020, nearly 14% of our response base shared their business was still suspended (considered non-essential) due to their state’s mandate. 

Of the respondents that were able to stay open during this time, nearly 50% of our respondents shared that the “stay-at-home” order was restricting the amount of work they can do. Meaning, regardless of a business’s essential status, workforce operations and efficiency are being impacted at an unmeasurable level. 

To get a better short-term estimate of business impact, we asked our respondents to rate their revenue expectations for the rest of this year: 

For many small businesses, it’s too early to tell how big of an impact the pandemic will have on their revenues – nearly 42% to be specific. To find out which industries are largely predicting the most significant declines in revenues, sign up for our webinar to learn more.


Interested in learning more? Tune into our live webinar on Thursday, August 22nd, at 2 PM ET, as we review more survey results. Register here.

About GoCanvas

GoCanvas® is on a mission to simplify inspections and maximize compliance. Our intuitive platform takes care of the administrative tasks, freeing our customers to focus on what truly matters – safeguarding their people, protecting their equipment, and delivering exceptional quality to their customers. 

Since 2008, thousands of companies have chosen GoCanvas as their go-to partner for seamless field operations.

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