Whenever I talk about safety with management or a supervisor, I always talk about the “Near Miss Factor.”  Today as the safety departments gets leaner we tend to think less about near misses and more about incidents and lost workdays.  But reporting, tracking and analyzing a near miss can have a dramatic effect on reducing lost workdays and serve incidents. 
 

What is a Near Miss?

A near miss is an unplanned event that did not result in injury, illness, or damage - but had the potential to do so. Only a fortunate break in the chain of events prevented an injury, fatality or damage. Although human error is commonly an initiating event, a faulty process or system invariably permits or compounds the harm, and is the focus of improvement. Other familiar terms for these events is a “close call”, or in the case of moving objects, “near collision”.

Reporting, Analysis and Prevention
An ideal near miss event report system includes both mandatory (for incidents with high loss potential) and voluntary, non-punitive reporting by witnesses.  A key to any near miss report is the “lesson learned”.  Near miss reporters are in a position to describe what observe about genesis of the event, and the factors that prevented loss from occurring.

The events that caused the near miss are subjected to root cause analysis to identify the defect in the system that resulted in the error and factors that may either amplify or ameliorate the result.

To prevent the near miss from happening again, the organization must institute teamwork training, feedback on performance and a commitment to continued data collection and analysis, a process call continuous improvement.
In 1932 Heineich issued what is known in the industry as the accident triangle.

1 Major Injury, 29 Minor Injuries, 300 No Inury Accidents
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 In 1969 Bird revised the triangle to look like this.

1 serious or disabling injury, 10 minor injury, 30 property damage,
600 accidents with not visible injury of damage
Understanding the “Near Miss” and what it signifies can help safety managers and safety teams to lower the more serious incidents.  Identifying the “Near Miss” also makes everyone more aware of safety.  Being aware of safety and best practices will help make the workplace a safer environment