Near Miss Program A Near Miss is an

Near Miss Program A Near Miss is an incident that results in neither an injury nor property damage. A study on the subject indicated that for every 330 accidents: ¨ 300 resulted in no injury (near miss) ¨ 29 produced minor injures, and ¨ 1 resulted in a major injury

Near Miss Program A similar study found the following ratio: ¨ 1 serious or disabling injury ¨ 10 injuries of a less serious nature ¨ 30 property damage incidents ¨ 600 near misses with no visible injury or property damage. This 1 -10 -30 -600 ratio clearly indicates the need to look at more than just the serious or minor injuries.

Near Miss Reporting Program ¨ Identification ¨ Documentation ¨ Corrective Action ¨ Follow-up ¨ Communication ¨ Tracking

Identification All near misses, or the potential for near misses (unsafe acts or unsafe conditions), must be identified and reported.

Documentation The incidents should be reported on a document that is simple and easy to fill out. It should describe the who, what, when, where and how’s.

Corrective Action For the program to be effective, employees must be convinced that management is committed. Corrective action must be taken on all reports submitted.

Follow-up Communication Management must then follow-up on all reports to ensure that corrective action was taken. Personal feed back should also be provided to employees submitting the report. This will demonstrate that management cares and values their contributions.

Tracking It is important to track near misses to identify trends. Trends could develop in particular departments, processes or with particular machines or equipment. Once identified corrective action can be taken to reduce the likely hood of further occurrence.