As noted, although near misses are vital opportunities to take corrective action before an injury or fatality occurs, they’re often not reported or thoroughly investigated. So if your company has a near miss reporting program in place, how do you know if it’s actually effective’

Robert Ryan, a certified safety professional who heads Safety Metrics Inc. in Wilmington, DE, says one way supervisors and safety managers can gauge the effectiveness of their near miss reporting programs is to conduct an anonymous survey of their workers. Ask workers the extent to which the following behaviours occur in their departments using this scale: 1=never; 2=seldom; 3=not sure; 4=most of the time; and 5=always. If the responses from your workers are mostly 1s, 2s or 3s, your near miss reporting program could use some improvement.

1. My co-workers willingly report detailed information regarding near-miss events. 1 2 3 4 5

2. Near miss events are thoroughly investigated for root cause(s). 1 2 3 4 5

3. Management responds quickly to correct causes of near misses. 1 2 3 4 5

4. Solutions for the near-miss events are usually well designed and effective. 1 2 3 4 5

5. Results of near-miss reports are effectively communicated. 1 2 3 4 5

6. My co-workers are encouraged to report all near misses. 1 2 3 4 5

7. My co-workers place a high value on reporting near misses. 1 2 3 4 5

8. Management demonstrates a sincere desire to prevent injuries from occurring. 1 2 3 4 5

9. The near-miss program is an effective way to prevent future injuries. 1 2 3 4 5

10. My co-workers properly apply the near-miss training they received. 1 2 3 4 5