The Importance of Near Miss Reporting

Welcome back, let's Build Smart & Build Safe! Yesterday, we introduced Behavior-Based Safety and the power of observation. Today, we're focusing on one of the greatest tools in any safety program: Near Miss Reporting.

A Near Miss is an unplanned event that did not result in injury, illness, or damage—but had the clear potential to do so. In other words, a near miss is a free lesson that only costs you a few minutes to report.

Every Near Miss is a Systemic Warning

A Near Miss should never be celebrated as a "lucky break"; it should be treated as a warning sign. The root cause of the close call is often the same underlying failure that causes a major injury.

For example, if a worker nearly trips over an extension cord that was improperly draped across a walkway, the near miss isn't just about the cord; it's about a failure in:

1. Housekeeping: The cord wasn't properly managed.

2. Training: The worker who placed the cord didn't follow the clear pathway rule.

3. Supervision: The hazard wasn't caught during a site walk.

Reporting the near miss allows the entire team to fix these failures before someone actually falls and gets hurt.

Fostering a Blame-Free Reporting Culture

For a Near Miss program to work, workers must feel safe and encouraged to report without fear of punishment or ridicule.

• Non-Punitive: The focus must be on the event and the system, not the person. If a worker is penalized for reporting that they almost did something wrong, they will never report again.

• Simple Reporting: The process for reporting must be quick and easy (e.g., a simple phone app, an accessible digital form, or a drop box). Complexity discourages participation.

A strong safety culture sees near misses not as problems, but as invaluable data points. When a company acts on near miss reports, it sends a clear message that worker input is valued and that safety is truly paramount.

Tomorrow, we'll discuss the proactive role of peer observation and intervention.

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-The Safety Man