In a 2011 talk at the National Safety Council Congress & Exposition, Phillip La Duke shared the top reasons that workers fail to report on near-miss accidents. La Duke, a professional safety strategist, stressed in an earlier blog post that although many people think fear of admitting mistakes and facing repercussions will be the most important factor, it is the least crucial among the nine factors he identified. The eight other reasons workers do not report their near-miss accidents are as follows:
- Embarrassment. Although workers usually are not afraid of serious consequences in cases of near misses, there is still a certain workplace social stigma that comes with making on-the-job mistakes. Many people will also feel internal pressure not to appear foolish, and so keep their avoidable near misses private.
- Confusion. Even if workers want to report their near misses, they may be dissuaded when faced with complicated paperwork and unclear directions on how to proceed with their report.
- Company Rules. Employees may also want to avoid the bureaucratic intervention that follows after they file the paperwork. Some companies enforce meetings or long reporting processes that employees prefer to skip rather than following proper procedure.
- Workplace Environment. If workers are in an environment which stresses safety but does not include near-miss reporting as part of its safety plan, they may feel that they are derailing safety progress by reporting their near miss.
- Reputation. Workers do not want to be seen as overly reactive or accident-prone. If reporting near misses is not encouraged as part of a full safety plan, they may not want to come off as too-sensitive by filing their reports.
- Ease. Simply put, it’s easier not to file a report when no actual incident has occurred. Workers may not realize the importance of filling out near-miss paperwork to overall workplace safety.
- Company Disinterest. This informs many other points on La Duke’s list; if the company or person to which the workers should report their near misses seems like they do not care, it will not incentivize the workers themselves to care.
- Perception of Pointlessness. Similar to the previous point, La Duke stressed that if the company does not make an issue of small accidents, workers will not think that near misses are important to report because their possible repercussions are indefinite.
Near-miss accident reporting is a key part of ensuring workplace safety. It shares information on potential hazards before any actual accidents or injuries occur, making the entire work environment safer. Your company must prize near-miss reporting as one of its most important parts of developing that safer environment, and you need to quickly identify any possible changes in your near-miss reporting process as per La Duke’s recommendations.
