British Rowing incident reporting: a club's step-by-step guide

By Civil Digital, the team building BoatLog · Last updated 2 August 2026

1. Know what counts as reportable

British Rowing's guidance is deliberately broad. Report any incident that causes harm or damage, however trivial it seems, any injury or health issue, and any near miss — an incident that could have caused harm but didn't. Near misses matter because they can flag a risk before it causes something worse, and they help British Rowing spot trends across the sport.

2. Report online, within 24 hours

Reports should be made online within 24 hours of the incident, through British Rowing's incident reporting system. It's confidential, and it's open to clubs, individual members, non-members and events — you don't need to be a British Rowing member to report something you witnessed.

3. Gather what a complete report needs

British Rowing's guidance sets out what a good incident report should contain:

• A detailed summary of the incident or near miss — date, time, boat IDs, crew members, and light, wind and stream conditions.
• A sketch showing the positions of boats and obstructions, and everyone's direction of travel.
• Statements from witnesses — those involved, others on the water, or people on the bank.
• Details of any injuries, any first aid or medical treatment given, and who administered it.
• What the club is doing to prevent it happening again.

Most of that is far easier to get right in the first hour than a week later. This is where capturing details at the time — who was in the boat, what the conditions actually were — makes the difference between a thorough report and a vague one.

4. Know who's responsible at your club

Responsibility sits with the club, through its Rowing Safety Adviser and committee. They're expected to make sure members understand what counts as an incident or near miss and how to report it, and to keep members updated on incidents that have happened and how to avoid them in future. If you're a new Club Rowing Safety Adviser, British Rowing's RowSafe resources and RowHow forum are the place to start.

5. What happens after you report

A copy of the report is shared with the relevant Regional Rowing Safety Adviser and the Club Rowing Safety Adviser of the club involved, so the right people are already aware — you don't need to separately notify them once you've filed the report, though it's good practice for the person reporting to also flag it to their own club straight away.

Where BoatLog fits — and where it doesn't

BoatLog does not submit reports to British Rowing and is not part of their reporting system. What it can do is give your club a record, tied to the outing itself, of who was out, in which boat, and what happened — captured on the sign-out kiosk at the time rather than reconstructed afterwards. That's a head start on steps 1 and 3 above; steps 2, 4 and 5 are always through British Rowing directly. See BoatLog's incident reporting page for more on how that fits together, and safety for RAG flags and overdue-outing alerts.