Yesterday’s near miss could be tomorrow’s accident
What is a near miss?
One of many definitions is “an unplanned event which could have lead to harm or loss”
But what does it mean?
Consider this…
A spanner falls from a scaffold platform but falls into a pile of sand causing no injuries and no damage. The only difference between this near miss and an injury is the fact that no one was underneath at the time. Is such a thing worth reporting to the Company? The answer has to be yes.
And why? Because an unsafe activity occurred; the fact that no one was underneath the spanner is just a matter of luck. Do you want to manage your life on luck?
If you don’t report this near miss, how will the Company ever find out what is happening in the workplace, what or who is unsafe and what can they do to prevent it.
Some years ago, a study of 1,750,000 accidents in 21 industries shows that there is a fixed ratio between losses of differing injuries and incidents where no loss occurred, i.e. near misses.
Simply put, the more near misses that are reported to the Company, the greater the chance of preventing fatalities & minor injuries
Then why don’t near misses get reported?
Many reasons, including laborious paperwork, possible blame, getting someone in trouble etc.
To address this, simplify your reporting system –
- perhaps a near miss report on a postcard that’s simple to complete
- make it anonymous – try intyrpoducing a no blame culture
An old adage says “never waste an accident” as every accident constitutes an opportunity to correct some problem….before it does become a problem.
