February 3, 2021
This month, Chris Walker, Head of Health and Safety from Napthens is going to talk about what Near Misses are, why they are important, the relevant legal duties and the consequences of failing to learn lessons from Near Misses.
You can also see the summary of the podcast here:
What is a ‘near miss’?
It is defined as an unplanned event that
- did not result in an injury;
- did not result in any illness;
- and did not result in any damage to property
- but critically, it had the potential to do so
Why is it important?
As employers and businesses, they have a legal duty to protect the health and safety of everyone affected by their own work activities.
Near miss reporting is an investment in the future as having injured colleagues out of business for a period of time is more costly and a time-consuming exercise.
Key fundamental elements of a near miss reporting process
- Train your staff in the near miss reporting procedure with tools they need to report
- Encourage the use of near miss reporting
- Investigate to find out what went wrong, what lessons can be learned, and what actions are needed to be taken to prevent this situation arising again
- Share the information on the actions taken with your employees
