The purpose with this essay is to investigate which factors that are decisive for nurses’ propensity for incident reporting. The study uses a descriptive cross-section design. Included are nurses that works at a care unit and who have worked as a nurse for > 1than one year. The survey was sent out to all nurses embraced by the criteria within a subdivision at a hospital in the middle of Sweden. 240 nurses received the survey and 134(55, 8 %) responded. Four respondents were excluded because they had missed an extensive part of the survey. The survey included 41 allegations about incident reporting.   This study shows that time required to report the incident, additional work involved in the reporting, and an ambition to report but forgets to do so are the most important factors for nurses not reporting incidences. The least important factors were lack of access to computers for reporting the incident, fear for lawsuit, fear for disciplinary action and fear of losing job. Regarding the likelihood to report in relation to who was involved in the incidence, the survey shows an increased likelihood to report another nurse to whom you did not have a close relation to.