Guest Blogger: Simon Mac Innes
Whether there is no injury, a small bruise or scratch, or an amputation, the consequences of unsafe acts and conditions are left to chance. A ratio showing a relationship between the number of near-miss incidents and injury incidents reported by researchers shows that for every 15 near-miss incidents, there will be one injury. In other words, there are 15 missed opportunities to prevent an injury.
Statistics show that hundreds of near misses often go unreported each month in this industry. Many of you may not think of an incident as a near miss, but it is more often human nature that keeps these lessons from being reported and improving the safety system. Reasons employees don’t report near misses include:
– They do not want to be blamed for problems or mistakes;
– They do not want to create more work;
– They do not want to be perceived as a troublemaker or careless.
It takes time to report a near miss and there are several reasons people don’t do it. However, it is truly important you report them. If not, what is lost is a lesson in injury prevention. The few minutes spent reporting and investigating near-miss incidents can help prevent similar incidents, and even severe injuries. The difference between a near miss and an injury is typically a fraction of an inch or a split second.
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