I think some of you may have missed the point here. Declaring a PAN or a MAYDAY does NOT require you to fill in an incident report automatically. The emergency which requried you to declare a PAN or MAYDAY does.
If you even think you may have a problem, declare!! You can always downgrade the emergency later if it does not turn to s**t. If the captain of the VC10( and it is a big IF) has had fumes in the cockpit requiring everyone to be checked by the docs, he should (and it is a big SHOULD) fill in an IR.
If the paperwork is stopping people declaring emergencies or telling anyone that they had a problem, then there IS a problem and something should be done. Complain to your SFSO and get the system changed. If problems are not shared, one day someone will have a major problem and crash because a known fault has gone unreported.
I know it is more paperwork, but if you have a probelm with the reporting system, fill in a Human Factors Report. They CANNOT be ignored.