Report an Injury

Injury Reporting Requirement

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires employers to investigate all incidents in which workers were injured. If a Purdue employee (Full-time, Part-time, Temporary and Student Employee) is injured while working they must submit a First Report of Injury (FROI) within 24 hours of the injury’s occurrence. All injuries, regardless of how slight, must be reported.

Injury reporting helps Purdue Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) professionals evaluate the safety of workplaces. Using injury trends, we can identify common hazards and implement worker protections to reduce and/or eliminate those hazards. Injury reporting plays a vital role in preventing future workplace injuries and illnesses.

How to Report an Injury

The First report of Injury (FROI) form is available through DocuSign and must be completed when a work-related injury occurs. The form will prompt the injured employee to provide their name and email address as well as their supervisor's name and email address. Providing the supervisor's email address ensures the injury is communicated to individuals within your department who can help investigate and address the causes of the injury or illness.

The employee who experienced the injury is responsible for completing only the first page of the FROI form. Which includes information such as the date, time and location where the injury occurred along with a description of the events leading up to and following the injury. If an injured employee is not available, their supervisors should complete the report as accurately as possible with the information they obtain from any witnesses.

Injured students who are not employed by the university can use the following links to find information on how to report an injury and where to receive treatment.

Medical Treatment Information

When an Injured employees requires medical treatment, they should be sent to an approved medical facility as soon as possible. A list of approved medical facilities can be accessed online. Transportation to an approved medical facility can be done with or without an ambulance depending on the severity of injury. For more information on when to use an ambulance for transportation.

If you are unsure about the severity of an injury, Call 911.

Injury Investigation Information

OSHA acknowledges the importance of root cause analysis as the preferred investigation style for all near misses, incidents and injuries. Root cause analysis directs the investigator to the core issue or the highest-level cause of an injury or illness. Without identifying and eliminating the root cause of an injury or illness, there is the potential for the injury or illness to occur again.

After the submission of a FROI, the supervisor listed on the form will receive an email requesting them to fill out the remaining incident investigation pages of the form. Also known as the Team Incident Investigations (TII), the remaining pages must be completed within 3 business days. This should provide enough time for the supervisor to gather their team and get an accurate description of the incident from the injured employee and any witnesses.

Investigation teams should include the following personnel based on the following type of injuries:

Required for all Incidents:
- Involved employee(s)’ direct supervisor (lead Investigator)
- Involved employee(s), or witness, if not available
Optional for all Incidents:
- Department Head or Director
- Area General Manager or PI
- Crew Chief
- EHS
- Safety Committee Representative
- Engineer
- Any additional persons that might contribute to the investigation (e.g., Welding Shop for potential fabrication needs)

The First Report of Injury (FROI) & Team's Incident Investigation (TII) form page offers directions on how to fill out the form and outlines the expectations for the investigation process. Additional information can be found in the New Team Incident Investigation Form (TIIF) training.

Steps to send the FROI form to additional recipients

Step 1): After submitting the form, when you receive the DocuSign System email with “Completed: First Report of Injury Investigation Form Submission” in the subject line click the “VIEW COMPLETED DOCUMENT BUTTON”

Step 2): When the FROI opens in your browser download it or print it to send as an email attachment or hard copy respectively. Directions for both are provided below.

To Download: click the download symbol (arrow pointing dawn) in the top middle of the browser window then “Combined PDF” from the dropdown list to save it to your computer for attaching to an email.
To Print: click the printer symbol in the top middle of the browser window to print a hard copy to your printer

Injury Reduction Commitment and Worker's Compensation Statement

Purdue University is committed to providing a safe and healthy working environment for employees. Environmental Health and Safety partners with faculty, staff and students using the Integrated Safety Plan to promote and empower a culture of accountability and commitment for safety and compliance, striving for the elimination of workplace injury and illness. When injuries do occur, Purdue University follows the Worker's Compensation and Occupational Disease Act of Indiana which provides protection for university employees who are injured while carrying out assigned work related duties.

For questions regarding injury reporting, contact: