WSH Near Miss Reporting
WSH Near Miss Reporting
WSH Near Miss Reporting
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Contents What is a near miss?
A near miss is an unplanned event that did not
result in any injury, illness or damage, but had
What is a near miss? 01
the potential to do so.
Why should we track near misses? 02 The Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Council
produced a short video called “Ying Yang Twins”1 as
What are the key components in near miss reporting? 04 part of its education campaign to educate the public
on the importance of working safely. In the video, the
How do we encourage near miss reporting? 06 characters experienced multiple near miss situations due
to unsafe acts or conditions; all of which could have led to
References 09 serious injuries.
1
Why should we track Conversely, acting only after sustaining injuries or
damages creates a major hurdle. Every accident will bring
near misses? about devastating loss and incur massive expenses that
will interfere with daily operations. Furthermore, the
company has to spend additional resources to prevent a
Managing near miss events can help you avoid similar accident from happening in the future.
future accidents from taking place.
Therefore, it makes better business sense to work with
near misses to uncover and arrest hazards at the onset
Near misses happen in all companies regardless of their before they escalate to outcomes that are beyond control.
industry or scale of operation. Hence, all companies can
tap on the benefits of near miss reporting to give their
WSH journey a boost. The many benefits are described Preventive action Figure 1 shows an accident pyramid adapted from
below but ultimately, the main desired outcome is to Heinrich’s study of workplace accidents. Heinrich observed
prevent all injuries and ill-health at work. that for every accident that results in a major injury, there
would be 29 accidents with minor injuries, and 300 near
misses (i.e., in a ratio of 1:29:300). Although other studies
Proactive monitoring Some companies use near misses as a leading indicator of conducted based on Heinrich’s theory presented different
their WSH performance. Near misses can be thought of as ratios, the general rule remained—near misses always
symptoms of an undiscovered problem at the workplace. occur in larger numbers than accidents.
It can occur repeatedly before an accident finally happens.
Hence, it is a leading indicator, amongst other safety From Heinrich’s observation, it is clear that a hazard can
performance indicators, you should take advantage of. manifest its presence through near misses. Companies
Other safety performance indicators include, but are not should recognise that near misses provide the opportunity
limited to, incident trends, medical leave trends, inspection to identify workplace hazards. Accidents can be prevented
findings, audit findings, and employee feedback. once hazards are known and prompt your company to
take action to eliminate or mitigate the hazard.
Companies usually wait for an accident to happen before
taking corrective action. By tracking near misses, they can
take pre-emptive action before an accident happens.
1 Major Injury
Zero-cost lesson Near miss events do not result in personal harm or
property damage. By tracking, analysing and managing
reported near misses, companies can learn from these
29 Minor Injuries
zero-cost lessons and make improvements.
Review The data collected from near misses are leading indicators
of your company’s WSH performance. Use it together
with other WSH safety performance indicators in your
evaluation. The review can be done on a daily, weekly or
monthly basis to identify trends and provide solutions to
remove the hazard. Reviewing and analysing the data is
an opportunity to gather feedback on performance and
enhance your workplace safety.
4 5
How do we encourage Empower employees All employees should be empowered to spot and fix
hazards at their own discretion before near misses escalate
near miss reporting? into more severe consequences. Employees usually
hesitate to take action because they are unsure if it is their
responsibility to do so.
Employees’ participation is vital for near miss reporting
to succeed. Therefore, we need to educate them on why Establish clear responsibilities for your employees and
near miss reporting is necessary. Employees should also encourage them to cooperate and actively contribute in
understand that they play a crucial role in the process of providing solutions.
reporting. These must be communicated and positively
reinforced to all employees across all levels.
Communication Communication is key in promoting near miss reporting
Here are some good practices that would encourage among employees. Regular and consistent communication
employees to participate in near miss reporting. will help to sustain the interest to report. Combining open
communication with a no-blame policy will let employees
feel that their suggestions are valued.
No-blame culture Reassure your employees that the information being
collected will be used to learn and improve—not to blame Besides highlighting the benefits of near miss reporting,
or punish. communication is also about sharing near misses that
employees could relate to. The sharing can be carried out
To improve the quality of report submission, you can by supervisors or top management to demonstrate their
consider anonymous reporting. Employees would be commitment to the well-being of their employees.
more comfortable with sharing information when their
identities are kept confidential. However, this could
hinder information gathering during investigation when Create a culture To establish a strong reporting culture, you should act on
every opportunity to identify and control hazards, reduce
assistance from reporting employees may be needed. of reporting risk and prevent harmful incidents. The senior management
It is important to earn your employees’ trust when it can begin by creating a policy and communicating it to all
comes to reporting. An environment where employees employees. The support from middle management such
feel comfortable to come forward without any fear of as managers and supervisors is vital as they work closely
repercussion would make the near miss reporting system with the workers. Middle management managers should
a success. be role models for their subordinates and set a good
example to propagate the value of near miss reporting.
Besides including near miss reporting into the job scope
of employees, you may also consider providing training
on near miss reporting for new employees as part of
their orientation.
6 7
Easy to understand
and use
A complicated or confusing process will likely discourage
employees from reporting. Therefore, it is important to References
ensure that the reporting process is easy to understand
and implement. WSH Council Guidance Materials
• Investigating Workplace Incidents for SMEs
The form should be kept concise and questions
straightforward so employees can easily learn how • Code of Practice on Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Risk Management
to use them. Lastly, obtaining the forms should also
be convenient so employees can record and submit a Industry Standard
report readily.
• SS 506: 2009 – Singapore Standard on Occupational Safety and Health Management by
Spring Singapore
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Annexes Annex B: Definitions
The following definitions apply for terms used in this Guide:
Description of incident:
Hazard Source or situation or act with a potential for harm in
terms of human injury or ill-health, damage to property,
damage to the environment, or a combination of these.
[SS 506 : Part 3 : 2013]
To be filled by Management
Potential severity:
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Major injury Non-fatal injuries which are more severe in nature,
defined using a combination of factors, including the
nature of injury, part of the body injured, incident type
and duration of medical leave. These include:
• amputation;
• blindness;
• deafness;
• paralysis;
• crushing, fractures and dislocations: head, back, chest
and abdomen, neck, hip and pelvis;
• exposure to electric current;
• acute illness requiring medical treatment or loss of
consciousness from exposure to chemical and/or
biological agents;
• asphyxia or drowning;
• hypothermia;
• burns with more than 20 days of medical leave; and
• concussion with more than 20 days of medical leave.
Minor injury All non-reportable injuries that did not result in death or
major injuries.
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Published in May 2016 by the Workplace
Safety and Health Council in collaboration with
the Ministry of Manpower.