Incident Reporting Guidance, Data Gathering & Entry *Test*

Entries in five report categories--Incident (Accident)Types, Contributing Factors/Causes, Operation, Activity, and Vessel Types/Subtypes--that were updated through a collaboration of NASBLA's ERAC and the Coast Guard's Boating Safety Division. The lists were accepted by NASBLA membership in 2012, 2013 and again in 2020 as part of the Recreational Boating Incident Reporting Policy Project. While four of the lists have yet to be adopted by the Coast Guard for national use in BARD, the Incident Types formed the basis for terms and definitions incorporated into CG-BSX 23-01, CH-1 (26 Sept 2023). Click here for the lists and more about their development.

This "best practice" developed by NASBLA's ERAC is intended to help officers/investigators write clear, consistent narratives and aid the state personnel who review and submit incident reports to the Coast Guard's Boating Accident Report Database (BARD). Though geared toward constructing the report narratives submitted to BARD, the basic principles in this package can be applied to more detailed narratives. Click here for the document.

This product--developed by NASBLA's ERAC in 2016 and updated in 2025--is geared toward helping officers/investigators in the process of determining and accurately recording alcohol or drug involvement as a contributing factor to an incident (with or without physical evidence), as legal impairment (BUI, OUI, etc.), or as a result of reasonable suspicion without physical evidence. Click here for the guidance, which includes a set of questions to pose about the operator and occupants or others involved in the incident. 

This resource page not only links to information and resources about ESD's from various organizations, but also presents two products developed by NASBLA's ERAC---a Response and Investigation Checklist designed to help officers/investigators and other first responders in accurately recognizing and reporting ESD events, and General Guidance and Considerations for BLAs Addressing ESD-Related Legislative Proposals.

This resource page not only presents general information and resources about CO incidents from various organizations, but also links to two products developed by NASBLA's ERAC---a Response and Investigation Checklist to help officers/investigators and other first responders in accurately recognizing and reporting CO incidents, and Guidance for BLAs Addressing Marine CO Detection-Related Legislative Proposals.

This multi-year project initiated in 2014 by NASBLA's ERAC yielded guidance and a supplemental incident report form for states interested in augmenting their recreational boating incident investigations, enhancing the evaluation of their safety programs and strategies, and adding to the collective knowledge about the impact of human factors in recreational boating. Click here for more information about ERAC's "lite" version of the U.S. Department of Defense's Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS) and more recent guidance developed by ERAC for gathering and examining distractions underlying the contributing factors "operator inattention" and "improper lookout."