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Every workplace has moments where something almost goes wrong. A colleague stumbles but catches themselves before falling. A tool drops from height but misses everyone below. A chemical container tips but rights itself before spilling. These incidents might seem trivial because nobody got hurt, but they represent something crucial: warnings that your safety systems have gaps.
Near misses are unplanned events that could have resulted in injury, illness or damage but didn't. The Health and Safety Executive defines a near miss as "an event not causing harm, but has the potential to cause injury or ill health." Understanding and reporting these close calls can prevent serious accidents before they happen.
What Is a Near Miss in the Workplace?
A near miss happens when circumstances align to create a dangerous situation, but harm is avoided through luck, quick reactions or minor differences in timing or position. The key characteristic is potential, something could have gone seriously wrong, but didn't.
Think of it this way: the hazard was present, the person was exposed, but injury was avoided by chance. Next time, the outcome might be different. Near misses reveal weaknesses in your safety controls that you can fix before someone actually gets hurt.
The HSE estimates that approximately 90 near misses occur for every accident at work. Each one represents an opportunity to learn and improve before facing the consequences of a genuine incident.
Near Miss Examples at Work
Near misses can occur in any workplace setting. Recognising them is the first step toward prevention.
Construction Sites
A scaffold board slides but workers below have just moved away. Tools fall from height but land in an unoccupied area. A worker steps back from an unguarded edge but catches themselves in time. These near misses often involve working at height, one of the leading causes of fatal accidents in construction.
Manufacturing and Warehousing
A forklift truck nearly collides with a pedestrian in a blind spot. Shelving loaded beyond capacity wobbles but doesn't collapse. A machine almost starts whilst someone is performing maintenance because lockout/tagout procedures weren't followed. Chemical containers are stored incorrectly but discovered before incompatible substances mix.
Office Environments
Someone trips on a trailing cable but manages to stay upright. An employee reaches for files on top of a cabinet whilst standing on a wheeled chair. A wet floor after cleaning has no warning sign, but people notice and avoid it. Filing cabinets tip forward when multiple drawers are opened simultaneously but are steadied before falling.
Hospitality and Catering
Kitchen staff nearly collide whilst carrying hot pans during busy service. Someone almost slips on grease or spilled liquid. A chef reaches across a hot surface rather than walking around. Fire suppression equipment is blocked during service but moved before needed.
The common thread in all these examples is that injury or damage was avoided by chance, not by design.
Near Miss vs Accident: What's the Difference?
Understanding the distinction between near misses and accidents helps organisations respond appropriately to incidents.
A near miss is an unplanned event with the potential to cause harm but didn't result in injury, illness or damage. An accident is an unplanned event that does result in harm. The only difference is the outcome, in both cases, something went wrong.
An incident is a broader term that encompasses both near misses and accidents. Some organisations use "incident" to describe any unplanned event that disrupts normal operations, whether or not harm occurred.
Another term you might encounter is dangerous occurrence. Under RIDDOR regulations, certain dangerous occurrences must be reported to the HSE even if nobody was injured. These include events like scaffold collapse, electrical short circuits causing fire or failure of load-bearing parts of lifting equipment.
The key point is this: near misses and accidents have the same root causes. The only difference often is whether someone happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Treating near misses seriously means preventing accidents before they happen.
Why Is Near Miss Reporting Important?
Many workers dismiss near misses as "no harm, no foul" situations. This attitude is dangerous. Here's why near miss reporting matters:
Early Warning System
Near misses act as advance warnings that something in your safety system isn't working properly. They identify hazards before they cause serious harm. A pattern of near misses in a particular area or involving specific equipment signals that intervention is needed.
Learning Opportunities
Unlike accidents, where people might be injured or traumatised, near misses provide learning opportunities without the human cost. Everyone involved is available to provide information. You can investigate thoroughly without the pressure and legal implications that follow serious accidents.
Cost-Effective Prevention
Preventing accidents is far cheaper than dealing with their consequences. Near miss reporting allows you to fix problems when they're small and manageable, before they escalate into costly incidents involving medical treatment, sick leave, investigations, potential prosecution and compensation claims.
Safety Culture Development
When people feel comfortable reporting near misses without fear of blame, it demonstrates a positive safety culture. Open reporting encourages everyone to take responsibility for safety and creates an environment where people look out for each other.
Trend Identification
Individual near misses might seem random, but collecting reports over time reveals patterns. Perhaps near misses cluster around certain times of day, specific tasks or particular pieces of equipment. This data helps prioritise safety improvements where they'll have the most impact.
Regulatory Compliance
Whilst most near misses don't require reporting to the HSE under RIDDOR, maintaining internal records demonstrates that you're taking a proactive approach to managing health and safety. During inspections or after accidents, evidence of near miss reporting and action shows you've been trying to identify and control risks.
Why Do Near Misses Go Unreported?
Despite their importance, many near misses never get reported. Several factors contribute to this:
Fear of Blame
Workers worry they'll be disciplined for reporting incidents, especially if they were somehow involved or made an error. This fear prevents people from coming forward with valuable safety information.
Normalisation
In some workplaces, near misses happen so frequently that they become normalised. Staff think "that always happens" and don't recognise events as warning signs worth reporting.
Unclear Reporting Procedures
If people don't know how to report near misses, where to find forms or who to tell, they simply won't bother. Complex processes create barriers to reporting.
Lack of Feedback
When reports disappear into a void with no acknowledgement or action, people stop reporting. If nothing changes after reporting near misses, workers conclude that reporting is pointless.
Time Pressure
In busy workplaces, stopping to fill out forms feels like time that could be spent on productive work. Without management support for taking time to report, near misses go undocumented.
How to Report Near Misses
Effective near miss reporting requires simple, accessible systems and a supportive culture.
Make Reporting Easy
Provide multiple ways to report: paper forms, online systems, verbal reports to supervisors or anonymous reporting options. The simpler the process, the more likely people are to use it.
Create a Blame-Free Culture
Emphasise that reporting is about fixing systems, not punishing people. When near misses are reported, focus on understanding what went wrong with processes, equipment or training, not who made a mistake.
Respond to Reports
Acknowledge every near miss report quickly. Investigate to understand root causes. Implement changes where needed. Most importantly, feedback to the reporter what actions you've taken. This closes the loop and shows that reporting matters.
Provide Training
Help staff understand what constitutes a near miss and why reporting is important. Use real examples from your workplace to illustrate the types of events you want to know about.
Include Near Misses in Safety Meetings
Discuss near miss reports in team meetings or toolbox talks. Share lessons learned without naming individuals. Celebrate when near misses lead to safety improvements.
Keep Records
Maintain a near miss log or database. Record details including date, time, location, description of what happened, potential consequences, and any actions taken. Review these records periodically to identify patterns and trends.
Effective near miss reports capture enough information to understand what happened and why, without being so complicated that people avoid completing them.
Basic Information (Date and time of the near miss, location where it occurred and who was involved - names should be avoided)
Description of Events (What actually happened)
Contributing Factors (What conditions or actions contributed to the near miss?)
Immediate Actions (What was done immediately after the near miss to make the situation safe?)
Suggestions (The person reporting often has ideas about how to prevent recurrence. Capture these suggestions. People closest to the work often have the best insights)
Is It a Legal Requirement to Report Near Misses?
In the UK, near misses don't generally require reporting to the HSE under RIDDOR. RIDDOR focuses on actual injuries, occupational diseases and specified dangerous occurrences that do require external reporting.
However, certain dangerous occurrences must be reported under RIDDOR even if nobody was injured. Even though most near misses don't require external reporting, you still have legal duties under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 to identify and control risks. Maintaining internal near miss records demonstrates compliance with these broader duties.
How to Encourage Near Miss Reporting
Building a culture where near miss reporting is normal and valued requires sustained effort.
Leadership Commitment
Recognition Rather Than Punishment
Regular Communication
Simple Systems...
How DuoDynamic Safety Solutions Can Help
At DuoDynamic Safety Solutions, we work with organisations to develop effective near miss reporting systems. We can assist with designing simple, practical near miss reporting procedures, training staff to recognise and report near misses, investigating significant near miss patterns, implementing corrective actions based on findings and integrating near miss management into broader safety systems.
We help build safety cultures where near miss reporting is seen as a strength, not a bureaucratic burden. For more information about developing proactive safety management through effective near miss reporting, visit www.duodynamicsafety.co.uk or contact our team today.
