A Near-Miss Reporting Policy

It’s an important tool to stopping accidents before they happen.

By Alexandra Walsh

A near-miss reporting policy outlines a company’s stance on reporting, recording, and investigating all accidents, incidents, and near misses.

It shows employees that their company is dedicated to maintaining a safe and healthy work environment by protecting its workers from workplace injuries and illnesses whenever reasonably possible.

The purpose of a policy is to ensure that even near-miss incidents, even minor ones, are reported, recorded, and investigated. Sharing information with everyone involved in the company creates an opportunity to determine what happened, why it happened, and using the information to prevent it from happening again.

A policy focusing on near misses should:

• Promote an open, learning attitude regarding workplace safety
• Provide a systematic approach for employees to report near-miss incidents
• Encourage an opportunity to gain understanding and insight from analyzing an incident
• Use knowledge gained to prevent or reduce future risks from recurring.

An effective near-miss policy supports management’s goal of establishing a reporting culture to identify and control hazards, reduce risks, and prevent harmful incidents.

Scope of the Policy

A near-miss reporting policy applies to everyone who works at the company, regardless of level, location, or job description, who all have a role in creating and maintaining an injury-free workplace.

While company management takes responsibility for implementing and overseeing health and safety for the entire workplace, employees must also acknowledge and accept responsibility for their decisions and actions, which can impact their own safety as well as the safety of others.

Importance of Tracking Near Misses

Above all, near misses are a valuable source of information. Near misses give the company a chance to find hazards or weaknesses in their safety programs and fix them to prevent future incidents.

Tracking near misses is proactive monitoring. Near misses are symptoms of undiscovered safety concerns. Reporting near misses can help the company take proactive action ahead of time when it comes to identifying negative trends and safeguarding employees. This, in turn, can help reduce workplace accidents overall and increase the company’s safety culture.

Identifying a Near Miss

A near miss is an opportunity to improve health and safety in a workplace because of a condition or an incident with the potential for more serious consequences:

• Unsafe equipment, such as poorly guarded machinery
• Unsafe behavior, such as modifying personal protective equipment for comfort
• Minor incidents and injuries that could potentially grow to be more serious
• An injury which could have occurred but didn’t
• Property damage that could have resulted but didn’t
• A safety barrier that was ignored, such as a worker bypassing a machine guard
• Environmental damage that could have resulted but didn’t.

Reporting a Near Miss

Workers must report all workplace incidents, hazardous conditions, near misses, and property and environmental damage to their immediate supervisor as soon as possible. Workers who suffer a work-related injury or occupational illness should seek immediate medical attention and promptly report the injury or illness to their supervisor as well.

It should also be noted that all work-related injuries and illnesses, no matter how slight, must be reported to a supervisor. The reporting system should not result in disciplinary action of the reporter, and if desired by the person reporting, should be allowed to be anonymous.

All near-miss incidents should then be reviewed by company management to identify the root cause and the weaknesses in the system contributing to the incident. The reporting individual may be asked to participate in the incident investigation.

Investigation results should be used to improve safety systems, control hazards, reduce risks, and educate employees. All of these represent opportunities for training, performance feedback, and a commitment to continuous improvement.

Communicating a Near Miss

The steps taken such as engineering or administrative controls, training, new policies and procedures to improve workplace safety because of the near-miss investigation need to be made known and reported to the entire staff.

This can be done in a variety of ways such as managers and supervisors having discussions with employees, bulletin board postings, and regular safety meetings.

Roles and Responsibilities

It is the responsibility of company management and those in charge of a company’s safety program to:

• Enforce federal health and safety laws, standards, and procedures
• Support the development and implementation of safe working practices through provision of proper resources
• Review health and safety procedures regularly and at least annually
• Consider incentives to encourage workers to report near misses
• Acknowledge and document potential hazards reported by employees
• Monitor health and safety performance, redesigning health and safety practices and procedures when
  prudent to do so
• Include immediate training for new employees to identify hazards and work safely as part of their orientation
• Perform thorough investigations and provide corrective actions to ensure future injury, disease, and accidents are eliminated.

It is the responsibility of the employee to:

• Make sure action has been or will be taken to maintain safety and ensure the safety of a jobsite
• Promptly report all incidents by completing the near-miss report form and submitting it to a manager
• Provide statements and participate in the near-miss investigation.

Reporting Actual Safety Incidents/Injuries

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration requires employers to keep records of certain injuries and illnesses, and certain workplace incidents must be reported to OSHA within specific time frames.

Specifically, all employers must report:

• Any work-related fatality within eight hours
• Any of the following, if it results from a work-related incident within 24 hours:
  -Inpatient hospitalization
  -Amputation
  -Loss of an eye.

In addition, a final rule requires certain establishments to submit injury and illness information electronically to OSHA. Employers that are not in a partially exempt industry and have more than 10 employees must also prepare and maintain records of serious occupational injuries and illnesses using OSHA Forms 300, 300A, and 301. These forms are described in more detail here.

Form 300 (Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses) Used to classify these injuries and illnesses and to note the extent and severity of each case. When an incident occurs, employers must use Form 300 to record specific details about what happened and how it happened.

Form 300A (Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses) Shows the total number of these injuries and illnesses for the year in each category. At the end of the year, employers must post Form 300A in a visible location so that employees are aware of the injuries and illnesses occurring in their workplace. Employers must keep a log for each establishment or site. When an employer has more than one establishment, a separate log and summary must be kept at each physical location that is expected to be in operation for one year or longer.

Form 301 (Injury and Illness Incident Report) Must be filled out within seven calendar days after an employer receives information that a recordable work-related injury or illness occurred. This report includes information about the employee and the treating physician, and detailed information about the case. Employers must keep this report on file for five years following the year it pertains to.

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Reporting on near-miss accidents is critical for a company as it can help keep employees safe. It is important that companies have a near-miss reporting policy and even more important that employees use it to assure everyone goes home safe and sound each night.

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Alexandra Walsh is the vice president of Association Vision, a Washington, D.C.–area communications company. She has extensive experience in management positions with a range of organizations.