What should our HOA board do and write down after someone is hurt in a common area?

By OurHOA · General information · Revised September 24, 2026

Board steps after an injury on HOA common area: the incident report, insurer notice, saving video, what directors should and should not say, and TX, FL and CO rules.

Part of the HOA board handbook: vendors, projects and upkeep.

The short answer

Get the person help, make the hazard safe without destroying it, and write down what happened the same day while memories are fresh. Stick to facts: time, place, conditions, who was there, what was photographed. Leave out guesses about cause and anything that sounds like fault. Report it to the association's liability insurer within a day or two, even if nobody has mentioned a claim, and export any camera footage before the system records over it. Then keep the whole file together until the insurer closes it and the time to sue has run. Most injury claims against small associations are decided months later by an adjuster reading whatever the board wrote in the first 48 hours. The examples below come from Texas, Florida and Colorado. State law and your policy terms differ, so treat this as general education, not legal advice, and call the carrier or the association's attorney when an injury is serious. For how liability works, see our guide on who is liable if someone is injured in an HOA common area.

The first hour

Call 911 for anything beyond a scrape, and do not move someone who may have a head, neck or back injury. Once the person is cared for, block the hazard. Close the pool gate, cone off the broken step, tape the loose handrail, turn off the leaking valve. Do not repair it yet. A tread that gets replaced that evening can no longer be measured, and an adjuster who arrives to a fixed stair has only your word for what it looked like. If the hazard is dangerous enough that it must be fixed right away, photograph it heavily first and keep the removed part. Take pictures and a short video from far away, then close up, with something in the frame for scale. Capture the lighting, any water or ice, the signs that were posted, and the shoes and weather if they matter. Write down the names and phone numbers of every witness before they leave. If the injured person is a contractor's worker, tell the contractor the same day, because the worker's own employer and its insurer are usually the first stop for a job injury.

What goes in the report

Use the same one-page form every time so nothing gets skipped. It needs the date and time of the incident and of the report, the exact location, the injured person's name and contact information and whether they are an owner, tenant, guest or worker, what the person said happened in their own words and marked as their words, what the reporter personally saw, the conditions, the witnesses, the photos taken and who holds the originals, whether emergency services came, and what was done to secure the area. Leave out opinions about cause, blame, the person's health history, and anything you only heard secondhand unless you label it that way. Here is a sample narrative a board can adapt: 'On Saturday, June 6, 2026, at about 4:15 p.m., the owner at 118 Willow Court called the board president to report that her guest had fallen on the pool deck stairs. The president arrived at 4:25 p.m. The guest was seated on the deck and said her left wrist hurt and that she slipped on the second step from the bottom. The president photographed the stairs at 4:30 p.m. The second step was wet. A companion drove the guest to urgent care at 4:40 p.m. The president closed the stair gate at 4:45 p.m.' Every sentence is a fact someone can check. Assume the injured person's lawyer will read the report someday, and write it so that is fine.

What to say and what not to say

Kindness is right, and in two of the three states it is also protected. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code section 18.061 keeps a statement of sympathy about someone's pain or suffering after an accident out of evidence when it is offered to prove liability. Florida section 90.4026 makes the sympathy part of a statement inadmissible in a civil case. Both statutes carve out statements of fault, which remain admissible even when they are wrapped in an apology. Colorado's apology statute, section 13-25-135, covers only health-care providers, so a Colorado director gets no statutory protection for either kind of statement. The practical rule is the same everywhere. Say 'I'm so sorry you got hurt. Let's get you looked at.' Do not say 'We knew that step was slippery,' 'That railing has been broken for months,' or 'The association will cover your bills.' Do not promise payment, speculate about a contractor's work, or post about the fall on the community's social media page or email list. When owners ask, a short board message works: 'A guest was injured at the pool on June 6. The area has been secured, the insurer has been notified, and the board will not comment on the details while the claim is reviewed. The stairs will reopen once repairs are complete.' Name one director as the only contact with the injured person and the carrier.

Notify the insurer and save the evidence

Call the agent or the carrier's claims line within one or two business days and send the report, photos and witness list. Most general liability policies require prompt notice of an occurrence that may lead to a claim, even if nobody has asked for money yet, so read that condition in your policy rather than waiting to see whether a letter arrives. Write the claim number and the adjuster's name at the top of the file. If the incident involves a director's decision, such as a board vote not to fix the stairs last year, tell the carrier that too and ask whether the directors and officers policy should get notice. Then preserve everything tied to the spot. Export the camera clip from at least an hour before to an hour after, because most recorders write over old footage on their own schedule. Our guide on setting up HOA common-area security cameras covers export steps and retention. Pull and save the maintenance log, inspection reports, work orders and board minutes about the area, the pool chemical and opening logs if it happened at the pool, and any earlier complaint about the same hazard. Tell your management company, landscaper or pool service in writing to keep their records too. Do not throw out the broken part, and do not let a vendor haul it away.

Why the file matters later

Premises claims usually turn on what the association knew and when. Colorado's premises liability statute, section 13-21-115(4)(c)(I), lets an invitee recover for the landowner's unreasonable failure to use reasonable care against dangers it actually knew about or should have known about. That makes your records a double-edged tool. A dated inspection log showing the stairs were checked on June 1 helps the association. An owner's email about slippery stairs from last August that nobody answered hurts it, and it will surface either way, so give the carrier everything. The file also has to outlast the claim period. Personal injury suits generally must be filed within two years in all three states: Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code section 16.003, Florida section 95.11(5)(a) for negligence, and Colorado section 13-80-102(1)(a). The clock can run longer in some cases. In Texas, section 16.001 stops it while the injured person is under 18, so do not destroy anything until the insurer and your attorney say the matter is closed, whatever your records policy says.

A sample timeline

Day 0: care for the person, secure the hazard, photograph it, collect witnesses, and write the report before bed. Day 1: the president or designated director calls the carrier, sends the report, and exports the video. The board gets a short factual email, not a discussion thread. Days 2 to 3: pull maintenance and inspection records, send preservation letters to vendors, and post the short owner notice if people are asking. Week 1: the adjuster calls or visits. Keep the hazard as it was unless the adjuster clears repairs, then get repair bids. Weeks 2 to 4: complete the repair, photograph the finished work, and note in the minutes, in general terms, that the board received an incident report and referred it to the insurer. Next board meeting: review whether the inspection schedule, lighting or signs need to change, and put that decision in the open minutes without discussing the claim.

Mistakes boards make

Fixing the hazard the same night and photographing nothing. Waiting for a demand letter before telling the carrier, which can put coverage at risk. Letting three directors each talk to the injured person and tell three different stories. Writing 'she tripped because she was on her phone' in the report when nobody saw her phone. Discussing fault in a reply-all email or on a neighborhood Facebook group, where every message is a record. Assuming the camera kept the footage. Offering to pay a medical bill out of the operating account to make it go away, without the insurer's knowledge. And filing the report in one director's personal inbox, where it disappears when that director leaves the board. Keep a single incident folder in the association's records with a copy of the form, and review the folder at the annual walk of the common areas.

Sources

These guides are general education for HOA boards and residents, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Rules vary by state and by your community's governing documents - check with a professional for your situation.

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