Confidential – Only one nominated person in the organization has the rights / access to see who reported, preferably the Head of Safety. He / She is duty bound to maintain confidentiality and only after interacting with the reporter, if needs be, to establish more details during the investigation, if necessary can he then share the report but at all times protect the reporter.
Anonymous – No one knows who reported. Often used by reporters who may not trust the confidential option or simply don’t want to be identified. (This is Air Maestro’s confidential report)
Unfortunately for the latter, through my experience, if the reporter does not give adequate details of the report, there is no way of getting further information. As a result, getting to the root cause may be a challenge.
That said, is it possible to have both options?