5 Examples Of How Near Miss Reporting Can Stop Accidents

Near miss reporting is one of the most underused tools in workplace health and safety. Many incidents go unrecorded simply because no one was hurt, no equipment was damaged, and the moment passes without consequence. But this attitude carries a serious risk: the next time that same hazard presents itself, the outcome may be very different.

A near miss is defined by the Health and Safety Executive as an event that, while not causing harm, has the potential to cause injury or ill health. That definition alone should prompt any responsible employer or safety manager to take these events seriously. The incident has already occurred; only luck prevented it from becoming something far worse.

Research has consistently shown the relationship between near misses and accidents. For roughly every 90 near misses recorded, at least one accident will follow. The numbers may vary by sector and circumstance, but the underlying message is consistent: near misses are a warning that something in your workplace is not working as it should.

Although near miss reporting is not a legal requirement under most circumstances (with the exception of dangerous occurrences reportable under RIDDOR), it is widely regarded as best practice and a key component of a proactive safety management system. Acting on near misses before an accident occurs is far preferable to investigating one after the fact. The cost of investigation, downtime, potential litigation, and human suffering makes prevention the only sensible approach.

near miss: an event that, while not causing harm, has the potential to cause injury or ill health

There is a common assumption that if no one was hurt, there is nothing to report. This thinking is both understandable and dangerous. The near miss represents a gap in your safety system, a point where your controls almost failed or did fail, and chance intervened. Without a formal reporting process, that gap remains open.

When near misses are captured and investigated, they generate actionable information. Safety managers can identify whether a hazard is structural, procedural, or behavioural. They can determine whether a risk assessment needs updating, whether additional training is required, or whether a physical change to the workplace is necessary. All of this happens before anyone is injured, which is precisely when it should happen.

A well-functioning near miss reporting culture also signals something important about the organisation as a whole. It shows that employees feel safe raising concerns without fear of blame, that management takes safety seriously, and that the business is committed to continuous improvement. The HSE’s guidance in HSG245 on accident investigation places near miss reporting at the heart of effective safety management, recognising it as the earliest and most cost-effective point at which an organisation can intervene.

Embedding near miss reporting into your safety management system also supports compliance with broader legal duties. The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 requires employers to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety, and welfare of their employees. Near miss reporting is one of the most practical ways to demonstrate that commitment in action. the incident and take action to prevent reoccurrence. You can stop accidents before they happen!

Example 1 – The Hammer Drop

Abstract guidance can only take safety management so far. The most effective way to understand the value of near miss reporting is to look at the kinds of incidents that occur every day in real workplaces and trace the consequences of reporting or not reporting them.

Consider a worker on a scaffold who drops a hammer from height. It falls 20 metres and lands a few feet from a colleague at ground level. No injury occurs. The hammer is retrieved, and work resumes. To many, the incident is over. But a near miss report triggers a scaffold inspection, which reveals missing toeboards along the edge where the tool slipped through. Those toeboards are reinstated immediately, removing the risk of further falling objects. Without the report, the gap in the edge protection would have remained, and the next dropped tool or dislodged material might not land on empty ground.

Or consider an employee who trips over an extension cable stretched across an office walkway and manages to regain her footing. She says nothing, and no one notices. Weeks later, the same cable, in the same position, causes a colleague to fall against a desk and sustain a head injury. A near miss report following the first incident would have triggered a cable management review, revealing multiple trailing leads across the same area. A few hours of remedial work would have prevented the accident entirely.

These examples are not unusual. They represent the ordinary texture of workplace hazards: mundane, easy to overlook, and capable of causing serious harm under slightly different conditions. The five examples below illustrate how near miss reporting transforms these ordinary hazards into genuine opportunities to prevent accidents.

Example 2 – The Cable Trip

An employee trips over an extension cable running across the middle of an office area. She manages to regain her footing and continues walking. No one else notices.

Following a near-miss report, a workplace assessment shows that several trailing cables are routed across walkways. Some are not even in use, and others could be plugged in closer to where needed and routed away from traffic routes. These quick changes greatly minimise the risk of trips causing injury in the future.

Near misses can seem insignificant, like the trip above. But, under different circumstances, the employee could have fallen against the corner of a desk, hitting her head. Or she might have tripped down some stairs, breaking a bone.

By taking action right away, you prevent a more serious version of the event from reoccurring.

Example 3 – The Reversing Vehicle

A site operative returns from lunch when he sees a delivery vehicle reversing off the site. A woman with a pushchair is on the pavement. He shouts out and waves at the driver to get his attention. The driver stops, the woman continues walking, and the operative then waves the driver to continue.

Another near miss. Another lucky escape. What if the next time a vehicle reverses off the site, no operative returns from lunch? What if the person on the pavement is distracted, has headphones, or is talking on the phone?

Luckily, the operative reported the near-miss to the site manager, who implemented a one-way system to prevent reversing off the site. He enforces this new rule with signage and barriers. Going forward, all delivery vehicles are escorted on and off the site with the assistance of a bankman.

It’s easy to see how this example could have resulted in a serious accident. But simple changes once a problem is identified can help make your work safer for everyone.

Example 4 – The Puddle

A supervisor steps in a puddle on a walk around in the warehouse. She asks the warehouse manager to clean it up. He does, and the walk around continues.

Is this even a near miss? It might not seem like a near miss, but someone could have slipped and injured themselves in other circumstances.

Following a near-miss report, it was found that a small leak in the roof light above is causing the puddle after heavy rain. The roof was fixed, preventing the issue from getting worse and removing the slip hazard once and for all.

Example 5 – The Swivel Chair

A worker stands on a chair to reach some items on a shelf that are out of reach. The chair swivels, and the worker jumps down. The worker steps back up on the chair to retrieve the items.

The worker doesn’t think there’s anything wrong. He always stands on a chair to reach the shelf. And he never gets hurt. He doesn’t have a crystal ball to see that if he does it again next week, when the chair swivels, he will lose his balance and fall, breaking his back.

But a colleague reports the near miss.

The investigation following the report identifies that the items stored on the shelf are in regular use, and chairs and other makeshift items are often stood on to reach them. Storage is rearranged to bring regularly used items within reach of floor level to reduce work at height, and safer access equipment is provided for those items out of reach.

These are 5 simple examples of how near-miss reports can provide clues to a more serious issue. The valuable information reported can be acted upon to prevent more serious accidents from occurring due to bad practices.

Taking action following near-misses will not only protect the safety of your workforce but also improve your monitoring procedures and help your organisation comply with its legal duties.

When implemented well, a near-miss reporting programme is a very effective proactive safety programme to reduce accidents and improve health and safety on site. By identifying and addressing the hazard reported, you can take action before an accident occurs.

5 Examples Of How Near Miss Reporting Can Stop Accidents – Often, the action needed is simple and easy to take, like changing a work procedure, providing training, or moving an item of equipment.

This article was written by Mathew Oldham (HSQE Consultancy Ltd). Mathew has over 20 years of experience in health and safety and an MSc (Hons) in Construction Management. Mathew is NEBOSH Health and Safety, Construction, Fire, Environment and Diploma qualified and CertIOSH.

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