What are some things employers can do to encourage near-miss reporting?

A near-miss incident leaves no injuries, no property or equipment damages, and little or no evidence that it even occurred. As a result, workers often ignore near-miss incidents. Employers should refer to near-miss reporting as a personal risk assessment. Near-miss incidents and their lessons learned make excellent training topics.

Here are several solutions to overcoming the barriers to reporting near-miss incidents:

• Explain that reporting near misses helps fix issues before injuries can occur,
• Define expectations that all employees report unsafe conditions or perceived risks,
• Provide employees with safety training,
• Measure how near-miss reporting has improved safety performance, and
• Recognize and reward employees and crews for proactive safety actions.

Studies have shown that near-misses outnumber serious accidents involving fatalities, injuries, or property damage. When reported and acted upon, near misses enable early intervention and are great opportunities to improve organizational safety performance.

Remember to identify the root cause and contributing factors and share them in mini-training sessions in your company.