No. 5 THE “NEAR MISS” ACCIDENT

Some things to know before you give the talk:

“Near Miss’ incidents are rarely if ever “reported” or discussed. Employees sometimes feel that if they report a “near miss” incident, it will be demonstrate poor job performance. “Near miss’ incidents are indicative a problem in the workplace, either with the employee, the work process or supervision. For this reason, no one likes to discuss “near miss” situations.

Discussing the importance of knowing and discussing “near miss’ incidents helps to open the door to resolving potential safety issues, improve morale and make the company financially fit. “Open-ness” without fear of retribution must be a hallmark of any successful safety program. Employees should know, and understand, one of the company owner’s goals, is to insure there workplace is safe. Without employees, the work process may not be completed in a timely and financially responsible manner. Even in fully automated plants, someone has to turn on the machines, watch the work process and service things when the automation process breaks down.

Be sure to choose a meeting place that is adequate and affords no interruptions.

Keep your meeting to no less than five minutes and no longer than twenty minutes.

Employees are more receptive to talks that are informal, rather than “canned” or read. Read the subject matter to be discussed, and then formulate your discussion points.

If you choose to select someone else to conduct the meeting, give him or her a week’s advanced notice to prepare for the meeting.

The moderator for the meeting must make sure that he or she maintains control over the meeting. Tell everyone at the beginning of the meeting how long the meeting will last and stick to the topic and time schedule announced. (There is nothing worse than a long safety meeting that is not relevant. Always value the employee’s time, especially if they are attending the meeting on their normal time off from work). Some employees will want to be more actively involved in discussions than others and it is not fair that one employee dominate a discussion. It also helps to let everyone know that they will be asked a question in the meeting and that their active participation is expected when they are called upon.

What to discuss in the safety meeting:

Let’s discuss something not talked about very often in the workplace. This is a topic that almost seems taboo. People fear retribution if they talk about this topic. No, we’re not talking about drugs and alcohol . . . . . that is a topic for another time and place. Let’s talk about the “near miss” accident.

“Open-ness” without fear of retribution must be a hallmark of any successful safety program. We all know, or should know, that safety is important to the company. Without employees, the work process may not be completed in a timely and financially responsible manner. Even in fully automated plants, someone has to turn on the machines, watch the work process and service things when the automation process breaks down.

Incidents will happen. That is a given fact. Sometimes, through a stroke of shear luck, no one is hurt and no property is lost or damaged. After a few collective deep breaths, there is silence. Then everyone looks around.

“Who knows?” is the thought that runs through every employee’s mind.

WHO NEEDS TO KNOW? And, if that one person we all fear knows about the “near miss”, what will happen? We all know what happens. . . questions, lot and lots of questions.

But, questions are important, if we’re ever to understand what really happened and try to prevent it from happening again. All too often though, out of fear, we all tend to “clam up” and go on like nothing happened. Silence can cultivate an unsafe work culture that is not good for anyone. “near miss” incidents should serve as a “wake-up” call that things need to change.

There are studies performed, by safety engineers, that indicate most accidents, once analyzed, were proceeded, by a “near miss’ incident that should have served as a warning. Either a step in the work process was missed, or someone was inattentive, or there was a faulty work process or work product that wasn’t properly tested. Even knowing this fact, most folks still don’t report “near miss” incidents. If we’re ever going to really put in a culture of safety that works, “near miss’ incidents must be reported and tracked.

Statistics bear out that for every accident, there are ten “near misses”. If we can identify each “near miss” incident, and work to reduce the frequency of “near miss” incidents, we can reduce the frequency of accidents that result in injury and property damage or property loss.

“Near miss’ incidents are an opportunity for us to learn. If we stay silent, out of fear that someone may find out and try to fix the issue, then we have no one to blame but ourselves when someone gets hurt because we weren’t proactive. Hopefully, it won’t be you that suffers the injury.

Questions to Get Employees Talking:

• What factors would cause you to NOT report an un-safe act, or “near miss” incident?
• How many “near miss” incidents would you have to witness before you would say anything?
• Should “near miss’ incidents be documented the same as an accident? Explain YES OR NO answers.

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