The Value of Near Misses

Many near misses go unreported, which means employers lose out on valuable opportunities to address hazards and improve their OHS programs. That’s because near misses give safety coordinators the chance to pinpoint the weaknesses in their OHS programs and make corrections to prevent future incidents.

So it’s important to encourage workers to report near misses—and to have a system in place to management these almost incidents when they’re reported.

A recent poll of readers encouragingly indicated that 82% have systems in place for reporting, investigating and managing near misses in their workplaces. Now we just need to get the other 18% on board!

OHS Insider has several valuable resources on near misses to help you get started, including:

• Information on disciplining workers for near misses
• Model language on reporting near misses for your OHS policy
• A recorded webinar on how to properly teach workers to report near misses.