General operational and educational information for corrections professionals. Not legal, medical, or compliance advice, and not a certification of compliance with any law or standard. Policies and standards vary by agency and jurisdiction; follow your facility's policy and your own legal, medical, and professional advisors. The library is reviewed and updated monthly; see the changelog.
An incident report captures a single event after it happens: what occurred, who was involved, what was done. The Executive Safety Review looks across the whole month for the patterns behind those events, before the next one. One is reactive and singular. The other is proactive and cumulative. A facility needs both, and most have only the first.
An incident report is essential and backward-looking: it documents what already happened. The Executive Safety Review is forward-looking: it asks what the month of events, responses, and near misses is telling leadership, so the same problem is caught before it repeats. Reports record history; the review changes it.
They serve different masters:
Write the incident report every time something happens. Hold the Executive Safety Review every month to see what the incidents add up to. Reports without a review means a stack of events no one is learning from; the review draws on the reports to find the pattern.
Run your own monthly review with structure. The Executive Safety Review agenda gives you the format.
Executive Safety Review Agenda The Free ToolboxVirtual Patrol Technologies runs the Executive Safety Review with the facilities it serves. See the method, or request a Safety Intelligence Audit.
