Near Misses By Carmen Daecher

What is a near miss?

We tend to understand what near misses are through sports. The difference between a home run and a strikeout is only a few inches. A dropped pass in the end zone is a missed opportunity for a touchdown. When one of these happens, there is ample analysis of "What went wrong". The experts in the booth, with the help of instant replay, can show you exactly where the opportunity to score was lost.

In a reverse way, this same sort of process needs to be considered within motor carrier operations. There, near misses equate to events where employees or the general public do not receive injuries or damage to their property, even though actions occurred which could have resulted in injury or damage to property. An office worker tripping over loose carpet; a mechanic falling off a ladder; a driver applying his brakes hard and just missing the vehicle in front of him by a few inches - these are all near miss events. While no one may be injured, its more a matter of "good luck" rather than "good work".

Because near miss events are "accidents that did not happen", the behaviors and circumstances surrounding them are important to identify and to change. Employee behavior, the improper use of equipment and poor training, sloppy housekeeping, etc., influence and create near miss events. If any of these events were an accident, they would be investigated and you would attempt to determine what might be done to prevent it in the future. Near miss events are predictors of accidents waiting to happen. Therefore, investigating near miss events and identifying potential causes are actually more powerful in prevnting accidents than waiting for one to happen before investigating.

That is why near miss events are important to document and to analyze. At first, it is certainly hard to get everyone to report near miss events. It may even be something that management does not fully believe in. But the importance of tracking near miss events lies in the fallacy of waiting for accidents to happen before analysis takes place. By waiting for accidents to happen, an attitude is created where we are not diligent until an unfortunate event occurs. To track near misses, the organization and everyone within it must be diligent at all times. They must be willing to admit to mistakes; must be willing to suggest that conditions or equipment are defective for their intended purposes; must be willing to support and encourage fellow employees to behave and act safely and responsibly all the time. Thus, the attitude of diligence is what makes the tracking of near misses very important.

Accidents occur because of errors in judgement, poor behavior, misuse of equipment, etc. Near misses occur for the very same reasons; they simply do not cost the company any money. That is why they should be considered as correctable events. If it is corrected before it costs the company money, you do not wait until there is a loss of property or injury to try to prevent actions from reoccuring.

If you are going to understand and use near misses as a basis to change behavior, policies, equipment, etc., then you need to document them. By no means do you have to collect as much information as you would for an accident but you must collect enough to understand what occurred, what equipment was being used, where the near miss occurred, and the actual activities of the employee(s) when the near miss happened. You should seek witnesses who can give you their recollection of the event. A simple form will do in collecting this information. A sample is enclosed.

You should also encourage employees to give suggestions about behaviors, conditions, equipment, etc. that they feel is unsafe or could be changed to improve safety. These suggestions, in conjunction with recorded near misses, give you a base of information from which to analyze and determine improvements and changes that can be made to avoid accidents. As an example, you may find that there are numerous near misses concerning tripping in the maintenance area. You might also receive employee suggestions concerning defining proper walk areas and keeping equipment, tools, etc. out of these areas. While you may not have had any accidents or injuries attributed to trips and falls in the shop, you have certainly established a trend that would suggest that housekeeping needs to be improved. By taking appropriate action, you will prevent an accident and an injury to an employee from occurring. And remember, by anticipating possible accidents because of near misses, and taking corrective action, you save employees from the trauma of injury and save the company time and money because of medical costs, lost productivity, and rehabilitation.

Getting employees to observe and report near misses translates into a more positive attitude within the work place among all employees. Because of their commitment to caring for themselves and their fellow employees, an attitude towards change and improvements will be viewed with a positive attitude. And a positive attitude towards safety by employees contributes significantly to the bottom line: productivity increase, accidents and injuries decrease, and costs associated with accidents decrease. Looking for near misses is paying attention to what is going on and attempting to correct situations before they resu

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