Oasys Training & Safety Services Blog

Whilst the author would acknowledge that accidents sometimes happen without rhyme or reason, there remains a huge body of evidence from the enforcement bodies and others that a large proportion of accidents, which occur within the workplace, are foreseeable; therefore, by definition those same accidents are avoidable.

There are a number of very good reasons why businesses should pursue an effective accident or loss control programme. However before the business can improve, the management of the business needs to recognise and commit to two fundamental principles.
One: Safeguarding the assets of the business is an essential management activity.
Two: The prevention of loss is as important to the business as the maximisation of profit.

Humanitarian Costs: There will be a humanitarian cost associated with accidents and ill health in the form of pain and suffering to victims, hardship for families, low morale and introspection from witnesses and other staff.

Economic loss: Sometimes referred to as the secret syphon, economic losses associated with accidents are many and varied, typically insured costs v un-insured costs, a rise in insurance premiums, downtime for production, management time involved with necessary investigations associated with any accident, plant, equipment and machinery damage, damage to buildings etc.

Legal Costs:  The legal costs associated with accidents are often overlooked: civil claims for compensation, loss of directorships, fines, personal and organisational including the possibility of prison sentences for controlling minds, if the evidence demonstrates gross negligence then a charge of “Corporate Manslaughter” may be considered.

See the following link http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg355.pdf

An effective system to capture and record Near Hit /Misses within the business is one of the principle tools successful companies employ to identify, capture and rectify those
opportunities for loss before they have an actual accident.

Prior to initiating a near hit / miss reporting system, the organisation should spend time explaining to the staff what the benefits of this form of reporting & recording is likely to be, as well as giving staff a clear understanding of what a near hit / miss actually is.

Typically a near hit / miss will have all the causation of a typical accident, however on this occasion there would be no actual loss. It could be best described as a “Crikey, that was close!” moment.

Definition of an Accident: An unplanned, unexpected occurrence, which has resulted in loss.

Definition of a Near Hit / Miss: An unplanned, unexpected occurrence, which may have resulted in loss.

A wet floor on one occasion might cause someone to slip, fall and subsequently seriously injure themselves, the subsequent accident investigation and analysis should lead to rapid rectification of the floor condition.

On another occasion a person might have an amusing slip and suffer no injury, and for reasons best known to them fail to report it to the area manager / supervisor, or fails to rectify the situation. This in turn is likely to expose others to the same risk for a longer period. The latter scenario is clearly a near hit / miss and something that needs to be captured and rectified.

All methods of communication need to be considered, how the business alerts itself to a near hit / miss is entirely up to the business, the issue is consideration and rectification of the problem.

Business Benefits

If a company has limited time or resources for accident prevention, capturing and rectifying near hits / misses is an essential first step:

It will identify opportunities where serious loss may have ensued

It will identify those areas where a lot of low value losses occur.

It may alert the company to developing accident trends.

It will identify weaknesses in systems of work or methods.

It will identify weaknesses with people, lack of training, poor supervision, poor motivation etc.

Any system dedicated to the capture of near hits / misses should be readily available, very simple to fill in and not demand too much information at the time. Staff should be encouraged to report at the time of the near hit / miss.

Contact oasys on info@oasystss.co.uk for more information or visit click on http://www.oasystss.co.uk/training-detail/Accident–Incident-Investigation-training-course/240 for information regarding our Accident Investigation training course.