When should a near miss be reported

In addition to internal reporting, you must report some near-misses (dangerous occurrences) to the HSE under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR).

You need to send a report without delay, as reports must be received within 10 days of the incident. However, if the incident resulted in more than seven days’ absence from work it can be submitted within 15 days.

Why is it called a near miss? A near miss or close call refers to a scenario that should have resulted in an accident but didn’t – causing no injury or loss. Near miss reporting provides an early opportunity to fix a prevailing hazard before it results in a catastrophic incident.

NB: A report must be received within 10 days of the incident. For accidents resulting in the over-seven-day incapacitation of a worker, you must notify the enforcing authority within 15 days of the incident, using the appropriate online form.

Fear of Punitive Action

Some near miss accidents don’t just reveal flaws in the work environment, but also mistakes made by employees. If these mistakes were an obvious act of carelessness or incompetence, workers involved may be reluctant to submit this information to their employers.

Near Miss Process Examples

Teach employees to report near misses (verbally or on paper) to their managers, who will then record the near incident on the app while in the field. Encourage and/or incentivize employees to share near misses. When a near miss occurs, Immediately address related hazards.

Any employee that failed to report an accident or near miss in a timely manner could be subjected to discipline up to and including termination.

The HSE estimates that there are around 90 near misses for every accident that occurs at work. With this in mind, if you wait for that accident to occur before taking steps to prevent it, you are taking a reactive approach to workplace safety, when you should be taking proactive measures to keep risk to a minimum.

In cases where there has been an incident which resulted in a potential breach of the GDPR, it is imperative that you report this immediately to Information Security Governance. … any ‘near miss’ incident that had the potential to cause a data breach even though it might not have done so.