Injuries and Illness

Near-Miss Reporting: The Cornerstone of Effective Accident Prevention

According to the National Safety Council, most accidents are preceded by at least one near miss. That makes near-miss reporting a cornerstone of effective accident prevention.

Identification of near-miss incidents is a leading indicator of safety performance. Near-miss incident reports can be used to identify a pattern of undesirable events that enable you to correct the conditions that caused the incidents before an accident occurs.

What a great opportunity! And yet, near-miss reporting is often inadvertently discouraged or avoided at many workplaces because of a culture of blame and disciplinary action associated with mistakes or wrong behavior.

IMPORTANT! Near-miss reporting will be most successful in a "blame-free" environment and where employees see positive action taken to eliminate hazards.

Setting Up a Near Miss Reporting System

Here are 10 key steps for setting up an effective near-miss reporting system:

  1. Gather a work group.
  2. Review OSHA logs and workers’ compensation files.
  3. Conduct a trend analysis.
  4. Look at incident investigation reports.
  5. Review current procedures.
  6. Decide on what you want reported.
  7. Revise (or create) procedures.
  8. Train everyone on procedures.
  9. Establish audit mechanism.
  10. Establish metric so you can track reports.

Try OSHA Accident Case Studies and give a boost to your safety training program with real-life case studies of actual industrial accidents from OSHA files. We have a great one on lifting. Get the details.


Let’s look at steps 1-4 in more detail:

  1. Gather a work group. People should represent the key components and business units in the organization, including safety, HR, production, and others.
  2. Review your OSHA logs and workers’ compensation files. Look at the problems before you write up policies and procedures. While the OSHA logs and WC files represent lagging indicators, they gives keys and clues as to where the organization needs to start to look, where the problems are. They also give an understanding of the kinds of injuries and incidents that have occurred. Review a minimum of 5 years of records to get a comprehensive look. Except for very large organizations, you will not find trends if you do not go back at least 5 years.
  3. Conduct a trend analysis, looking for trends in process areas, work groups, hazards, days of week, types of injuries, etc. Look for whatever patterns you can identify.
  4. Search incident investigations reports, looking for the kinds of analyses that have been done. If you have a good process you will see rich data on the kinds of near misses.

Even your most skeptical workers will see what can go wrong and become safety-minded employees with OSHA Accident Case Studies. They’ll learn valuable safety training lessons from real mistakes—but in classroom training meetings instead of on your shop floor. Get more info.


Prevent Accidents with Effective Training

Another foundation of any successful accident prevention plan is effective safety training that grabs and holds the attention of your workers.

That’s why you need OSHA Accident Case Studies. This training program really packs a punch.

Animated, customizable PowerPoint slides tell real-life case studies of actual industrial accidents from OSHA files, complete with accident photos to get workers’ attention and make your safety meetings come alive.

OSHA Accident Case Studies includes 25 meetings on all key safety topics.

Even your most skeptical workers will see what can go wrong and become safety-minded employees. They’ll learn valuable safety training lessons from real mistakes—but in classroom training meetings instead of on your shop floor.

You get:

  • 25 case study meetings on key OSHA topics
  • Customizable visuals and text
  • Fast moving, animated PowerPoint presentations
  • Detailed speaker’s notes for every slide
  • Printable handouts, quizzes, and slides for each topic
  • Interactive exercises and questions

Safety topics include:

—Back safety
—Power tools
—Hazard communication
—Lockout/tagout
—Fire safety
—Hearing protection
—Confined spaces
—Trenching and excavation
—HAZWOPER
—Ergonomics
—And more!

We’ll be happy to make OSHA Accident Case Studies available for a no-cost, no-obligation, 30-day evaluation in your office. Just let us know, and we’ll be pleased to arrange it.

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