- Caterpillar Products:
- All
Caterpillar Incident Reporting Process
For many years Caterpillar has maintained an active Incident Reporting program to obtain information about incidents that involve Caterpillar products. This program is a global program committed to by both Caterpillar and CAT Dealers as described through Dealer Sales and Service Agreements.
Incidents are any events that involve a Caterpillar product and that result in any of the following:
- Personal injury
- Fatality
- Product damage
- Property damage
- A unique event or a near-miss event (even though no injury or damage occurred)
Why Incident Reports Matter
The purpose for reporting these events is to gather and record objective and accurate information about incidents wherever Caterpillar products are used around the world. This information allows Caterpillar to evaluate the need for current and future product changes. A complete incident description should include timely and relevant facts of the events surrounding the incident. These events can include location, weather and ground conditions, descriptions of all machines, and the identification of people involved. Photos are always encouraged.
Such information enables Caterpillar to evaluate the incident quickly to determine if further information or action is needed. Therefore, it is important for the information to be as accurate and factual as possible. While normally just factual information should be included in the Incident Report, there are times when opinions based on observations can be helpful. If opinions or speculation are thought to be helpful in describing the incident, the opinions should be identified clearly as such so that the opinions are not interpreted as factual information.
Uploading Photographs
When adding photographs to the Incident Report, add the original files as the files came out of the camera, without reducing the resolution. Also, do not embed the photographs into a PDF file or Excel or PowerPoint file. If there are many photos, consider adding the photos to a Zip file prior to uploading to DSN. The Zip file saves file size and time in uploading and downloading the photos.
Incident Reporting Process
All Incident Reports should be submitted on-line through the Dealer Solutions Network (DSN). Submitting Incident Reports through the DSN ensures quick review by Caterpillar personnel and if appropriate the development of a plan of action. Using the DSN simplifies the task of submitting Incident Reports and provides the capability to attach photos and documents and to view past submissions. Because DSN access is reserved for authorized dealers, dealer customers must be aware of the importance of reporting all incidents and of communicating that information to the dealer whenever an incident involving a Caterpillar product occurs.
Changes To Field Use Form And DSN Entry Screens
The Caterpillar Incident Reporting Field Use Form & Instructions and DSN Incident Report entry screens have been modified to use the same order and format of information. In addition, the two preliminary questions on the DSN entry screens that identify the incident as either an actual event or a near miss have been expanded to three questions in order to distinguish further between property/product damage and personal injury for an actual event. These three questions also now appear on the Field Use Form.
Incident Report Form Availability
Blank Incident Reporting Forms are available at the following location on SIS. These forms can be utilized by field personnel to gather information while on the job site. Forms are available in English (REHS8502) and Spanish (RSSH8502). Links to these documents in SIS will also be added to the Global DSN Homepage (https://gdsn.cat.com).
 | |
| Illustration 1 | g03369571 |
 | |
| Illustration 2 | g03369576 |
 | |
| Illustration 3 | g03369582 |
For more information about incident reporting, dealer personnel may register for the DSN Incident Reporting on-line training course through the Dealer Learning Management System (DLSM) Service Campus, course number 20709.
Thank you for your continued support of Caterpillar's Incident Reporting Process.