According to Wikipedia “near miss” in the work place is defined as an unplanned event that did not result in injury, illness, or damage- but had the potential to do so.” In the workplace these near miss injuries may not be reported even though they can provide valuable information on how to prevent future injuries and may bring to light a dangerous situation that no one has encountered before.
Phillip La Duke suggests 9 main reasons these do not get reported:
1.) Fear: In some work places employees are punished because of injuries. They may be scared that a near miss injury would have the same effect.
2.) Embarrassment: Workers don’t want to be seen as “accident prone” or “clumsy”.
3.) Difficulty: Difficult paperwork and processes would make a near miss hard to report.
4.) Bureaucracy: Workers might be asked to attend meetings and share their stories, some might not want to start this process.
5.) Peer Pressure: If this near miss would cause others to lose a perfect safety record or lose some sort of incentive, a worker might not want to let their co-workers down.
6.) Loss of Reputation: Workers don’t want to be seen as “weak” or unable to do a tough job.
7.) It’s easier not to: If a worker suspects that no one will really care about the near miss injury or it would be too difficult to report and cause embarrassment, they may not report it.
8.) Lack of Interest from the Organization: If a workplace does not see near misses as important information a worker will not find them important either.
9.) Perceived as Pointless: If the near miss would not have resulted in a serious injury, the information could be seen as pointless and therefore should not be reported.
Work places should change the way they look at near miss injuries and find a way to encourage the workers to see the information as important to preventing large serious injuries. Preventing injuries by making the workplace as safe as possible is also important. Non-slip flooring can play a large part in minimizing slip and fall accidents and near miss injuries in slippery environments. SLIPNOT can provide durable metal safety flooring that will help keep employees safe.
