Incident and Near-Miss Reporting

Category: Emergency Preparedness Time: 5–10 min Audience: All Workers

The iceberg

For every serious injury, there are roughly 29 minor injuries, 300 near misses, and thousands of unsafe conditions. The serious injuries at the top of the iceberg are predictable — they follow from the conditions and near misses at the bottom. Reporting near misses is how you prevent the serious incident.

What to report

Report every injury, however minor. Report every near miss — a situation where someone could have been hurt but wasn't. Report every unsafe condition you observe. The value of the report is in the information, not in whether anyone got hurt.

Why people don't report

Fear of discipline. Not wanting to create paperwork. Thinking it wasn't serious enough. None of these are valid reasons, and a workplace where people don't report near misses is a workplace that will eventually have serious injuries.

What we do with reports

Reports are used to identify patterns and fix hazards — not to assign blame. If you make a mistake and report it, that's how we learn and improve. The only unacceptable response to a near miss is silence.

Discussion question

What's the last near miss or unsafe condition you observed in this area, and was it reported?

Documentation Reminder

Record this meeting: date, topic ("Incident and Near-Miss Reporting"), names of attendees, and facilitator. A sign-in sheet filed with your safety records is your proof of training. OSHA considers documented safety meetings as evidence of good faith.