“Near misses and resulting inspections may help prevent an injury or even a fatality, but an investigation cannot take place if the near miss is not reported accurately. Therefore, setting up a successful safety management program to ensure near misses are reported and investigated is an important step in reducing occurrences of serious incidents.”
“OSHA defines a near miss as an incident in which no property was damaged and no personal injury was sustained, but where, given a slight shift in time or position, damage or injury easily could have occurred.”
“Another part of the near-miss system is learning how to encourage employees to report a near miss without feeling that they will get into trouble.”
“Having several outlets to report a near miss will make the process less painful for employees, said Tim Neubauer, safety consultant for the National Safety Council.”