When something goes wrong, writing it up isn’t just paperwork; it’s mission critical. This post walks through exactly what makes a strong security incident report. You’ll learn what to include, what to avoid, and how great reporting protects your people, sharpens operations, and strengthens your organization beyond compliance.
No security leader wakes up in the morning hoping to handle an incident. But incidents happen anyway. And your guards should be ready to document the details clearly so that your team understands what went wrong and how to do it better next time.
And yet, plenty of security teams skimp on this important task. They stick to old paper forms that might get filled out eventually. Guards invent new incident categories by accident or write too little (or too much), confusing shift managers. By the end, you get a stack of messy reports and no clue what you should actually change to prevent another incident.
That costs you compliance, time, money, and most importantly, your people’s safety.
So what does a strong security incident report look like, and how do you prepare your organization to learn and grow through them?
Your security team probably already handles multiple types of reporting, like guards’ daily activity logs. Incident reports are the ones nobody wants to touch. After all, they usually follow something bad happening:
Even though filling out these reports is a thankless job, your company’s bottom line will thank you: A global survey of chief security officers for large enterprises found companies lost $1 trillion in revenue in 2022 because of physical security incidents. Any on-site incident presents risks and costs, and a guard’s ability to capture everything in an incident report can make an enormous difference.
Most security teams bring up incident reporting when talking about compliance. These reports keep your company in line with regulatory requirements and help protect you from consequences like regulatory fines, insurance claims, and lawsuits.
But with the right tools and systems, incident reports could also help you:
That only happens if your team can produce consistently strong security incident reports.
What does a not-so-strong report look like? Here’s where we’ve seen reports go wrong.
There’s no “optimal length” for an incident report. It should be as long as needed to cover key details. That said, too little or too much information makes it harder to understand what happened and what to do about the situation.
Too little information is easy enough to see: “Guard apprehended suspect in the building” doesn’t give nearly enough detail to help you address physical security weaknesses. But overly long reports can be equally damaging.
Consider a verbal dispute between two employees, John and Sara. What if your guard writes this in their report?
“John has been a problem employee for months (I had to break up a fight just last week) and definitely provoked Sara. Sara started crying and said things like, ‘You never listen to me.’ I think this shows deeper problems in the department. I tried to calm them down by reminding them not to have therapy sessions in the break room.”
What should’ve been a straightforward account of events becomes an HR headache and a potential legal liability. Plus, your team will need to re-investigate the situation to get an objective report. The ideal report should cover enough to explain the situation — and only that.
The John/Sara example also shows you what happens when the writing isn’t clear. Guards don’t need to be bestselling authors to write strong incident reports. They just need to keep it simple by writing clearly and directly about the situation. No embellishment or art required.
Your security team should present the situation as objectively as possible. Subjective language like “I think” or vagueness like “maybe this happened” muddies the report and opens you to potential consequences. When in doubt, stick to:
Do your guards know what the final report should look like? Sure, you might have a pre-printed paper form, or maybe a reporting module tacked onto your tech stack. But without clear guardrails on usage and formatting, guards can make critical mistakes like:
When information loses standardization, your managers spend more time and energy sifting through the mess to find the actual nuggets of useful wisdom.
Time is very much of the essence with incident reporting. Delaying reports can carry severe consequences. Often, these reports go to:
Any delay in producing reports could lead to missed information or vagueness — and bad news later on. Guards have enough to worry about without wondering if they turned in a report fast enough to prevent a civil lawsuit.
A good security incident report shares much in common with a good newspaper article: Your report should answer the Five Ws and cover what actions you took:
Also include witness statements and attachments, like photos, videos, or other documents. If you’re using paper or a poorly designed digital tool, those pieces can become a nightmare to manage.
Remember that incident reporting is a skill. You can (and should) train your guards on reporting processes and procedures. Include it in performance feedback loops as well. Hopefully, it’s a skill they won’t practice too often, but they’ll be ready to step up when called.
We’ve spent the hours on-shift handling incident reports, and we bring that knowledge to CSA360. It’s why we’ve designed a reporting tool that works — and that helps you protect your organization and fine-tune your security program.
With CSA360, your security team can instantly communicate with guests and employees to gather details about an incident. Assign follow-up tasks to the right people and wrap up incidents seamlessly. And our mobile-first incident reporting software puts all the information in the hands of those who need it, when they need it.
Customize incident forms to meet your company’s needs, giving you detailed documentation while keeping everyone aligned and organized. Every report is logged, searchable, and tracked to resolution with full audit trails. Automated workflows run behind the scenes to keep your guards focused on the most important details. View analytics on-platform and generate reports to analyze incident trends and plug security gaps.
With our system, you’ll feel confident knowing everything gets logged and nothing gets overlooked.
Security incident reporting is only one part of a comprehensive security guard management solution. But when an incident happens — and it will happen — investing in digital solutions ensures your security team is ready to respond quickly and completely.
Incidents happen, but messy reporting doesn’t have to. See how CSA360 helps your security team respond faster, smarter, and more consistently.