What's a Near Miss / Near Hit?

Usually a near miss or hit is defined as an accident that almost happened.

For example, the situation where someone trips and almost falls down the stairs but manages to grab the hand rail just in time, or when someone is almost hit by a reversing fork lift. In these two examples no injury resulted but this was the result of good luck rather than good management.

When near misses occur they can be regarded as early warnings that something is wrong somewhere in the system. We therefore need to develop a system which allows us to take action before an injury occurs.

When a Hazard and Near Miss report is received by a supervisor, the supervisor should discuss it with the person making the report, investigate, and decide what corrective action should be taken and implement the change as soon as possible if it is within the supervisor's authority. If not, the matter should be referred to a member of management for review and correction.

All Near Misses should be reported, reviewed and recommended corrective actions implemented as soon as possible after the event. These items should also be discussed in daily tailgates and monthly safety committee meetings to ensure affected employees are apprised of the changes. The idea is to take immediate corrective action to prevent recurrence with a more serious outcome.

Below is summary of an actual near miss (not one of ours) that is quite common:
Incident Date: 1/09/2009
Task Description: Working on elevated platforms using hand tools.
Summary: A hand tool fell through a small gap in the work area and dropped and deflected from other equipment causing the hand tool to fall outside the exclusion zone identified for the process.
Cause of incident: Moving, flying or falling object
Root cause: Lack of risk assessment
Activity Type: Maintenance
Specific Equipment: Hand Tools and the lack of securing devices to ensure they are unable to fall from aloft.

Lessons Learned:

Risk assessments must be thorough…there was a gap here was the exclusion zone underneath the work area large enough?

There was no plan for the safe and controlled use of working with tools at height.

It appears there was at least one gap in the protective matting which had not been managed effectively.



Near-misses are often less obvious than accidents and are defined as having little if any immediate impact on individuals or processes. Despite their limited impact, near-misses provide insight into potential accidents that could happen. As numerous catastrophes illustrate, management failure to capture and remedy near-misses may foreshadow disaster. Notable examples where near-miss precursors have been observed but not effectively managed include:

1. The 1986 Space-Shuttle Challenger explosion. Engineers had identified and reported degraded O-ring seals on previous missions dating back to 1982 with degradation increasing as ambient liftoff temperature decreased. The night before the disaster, management had been warned of the potential for catastrophic failure when lifting off at ambient temperatures of 53 °F or below (the liftoff temperature was 36 °F) (Vaughan, 1996).

2. The 1997 Hindustan refinery explosion in India. Sixty people died and over 10,000 metric tons of petroleum based products were released to the atmosphere or burned. Written complaints of corroded and leaking transfer lines where the explosion originated went unheeded (Khan and Abbasi, 1999).

3. The 1999 Paddington train crash catastrophe in which 31 people died. From 1993-1999 eight near-misses, or ‘signals passed at danger’ (SPADS), had occurred at the location (Signal 109) where the eventual collision and explosion occurred. At the time of the crash, the signal was one of the 22 signals with the greatest number of
SPADS (Cullen, 2001).

4. The 1998 Morton explosion and fire resulting from a reactor temperature excursion. Nine people were injured, two seriously. In an accident investigation, the Chemical Safety Board concluded, “Management did not investigate evidence in numerous completed batch sheets and temperature charts of high temperature excursions beyond the normal operating range.” A disproportionate number of excursions resulted after the process was scaled-up (Chemical Safety Board, 2000).

Many accidents can be prevented by taking prompt action to prevent a hazardous situation from continuing or developing into something worse. Near Miss reporting is a key element in an Accident Prevention Program. Experiences shared and information gathered at one facility can be used at other facilities to mitigate risk and control losses. Therefore, we must continue to encourage employees to report all near misses, immediately. We need to use Near Miss reports as ‘our early warning system’ and do all we can to minimize the potential for loss.

Waiting for an injury to happen before acting just doesn't make sense! The best answer is prevention…and that takes timely, effective communication.

Lighting Safety

1. MYTH: Lightning Never Strikes the Same Place Twice

TRUTH: Lightning often strikes the same place repeatedly, especially if it’s a tall pointy isolated object. The Empire State Building used to be used as a lightning laboratory, since it is hit nearly 25 times a year. Places prone to lightning are places to avoid when thunderstorms are nearby!

2. MYTH: If it’s Not Raining, or if Clouds Aren’t Overhead, I’m Safe from Lightning

TRUTH: Lightning often strikes more than three miles from the thunderstorm, far outside the rain or even thunderstorm cloud. ‘Bolts from the Blue’, though infrequent, can strike 10-15 Miles from the thunderstorm. Anvil lightning can strike the ground over 50 Miles from the thunderstorm, under extreme conditions. Lightning in clouds has traveled over 100 miles from the thunderstorm.

3. MYTH: Rubber Tires Protect You from Lightning in a Car by Insulating You from the Ground

TRUTH: Lightning laughs at two inches of rubber! Most cars are reasonably safe from lightning. But it’s the metal roof and metal sides that protect you, not the rubber tires. Thus convertibles, motorcycles, bicycles, open shelled outdoor recreational vehicles, and cars with plastic or fiberglass shells offer no lightning protection. Likewise, farm and construction vehicles with open cockpits offer no lightning protection. But closed cockpits with metal roof and sides are safer than going outside. And don’t even ask about sneakers! •

4. MYTH: A Lightning Victim Is Electrified. If You Touch Them, You’ll be Electrocuted.
TRUTH: The human body doesn’t store electricity. It is perfectly safe to touch a lightning victim to give them first aid. This is the most chilling of lightning myths. Imagine someone dying needlessly, for want of simple CPR or mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, when their chance of survival was ~90%!

5. MYTH: If Outside in a Thunderstorm, Go Under a Tree To Stay Dry

TRUTH: Being underneath trees is the second leading activity for lightning casualties – Enough said?!

6. MYTH: I’m in a House, I’m Safe from Lightning

TRUTH: While a house is a good place for lightning safety, just going inside isn’t enough. You must avoid any conducting path leading outside, such as corded telephones, electrical appliances, wires, TV cables, plumbing (including plastic pipes with water in them), metal doors or window frames, etc. Don’t stand near a window to watch the lightning. An inside room is generally best.

Ready for Your Flu Shot

The CDC recommends a flu vaccination annually. This is the most important step in protecting yourself against seasonal flu. Every year, a new vaccine is developed to protect against the 3 main flu viruses researchers believe will be the most common. Vaccination is especially important for people at high risk of serious flu complications, including young children, pregnant women, health care workers, people with chronic health conditions like asthma, diabetes, heart and lung disease, and people 65 and older.

The flu vaccine also is very important people who live with or care for people at high risk. This vaccine will not protect against the H1N1 (swine flu) virus. That will require a separate vaccination. Source: CDC

Is it Strep or Just a Sore Throat

Strep throat is caused by steplococal (strep) bacteria that infects your throat and tonsils. There are several different types of strep, some of which can be life-threatening. Here are some signs.symptoms of strep throat:

* A severely sore throat * Swollen tonsils and/or lymph nodes

* Painful swallowing * Fever in excess of 101 F

* A red throat with white or yellow spots

Strep is highly infectious and easily passed from one person to another. Your physician will do an exam and probably a rapid strep test to determine if you have strep throat, If the rapid strep test comes up negative, but your symptoms still appear to be strep, your doctor may grow a culture of the bacteria. If the culture is positive, your doctor will most likely treat it with antibiotics. A sore throat can mimic the signs of strep and have many of the same symptoms. Sore throats are usually caused by a virus and in most cases pose minimal risk.

Viruses are also infectious and can be passed from person to person. Sore throats accompanied by sneezing, coughing, and a runny nose, are usually not strep. Sore throats can generally be treated with over-the-counter medications and home treatments to help ease the discomfort. For a sore throat, sooth your discomfort by increasing fluid intake, gargling with warm salt water, and drinking a mixture of honey and lemon in hot water. Source: WebMD

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VISION – The main business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance but to do what lies clearly at hand. Thomas Carlyle

Cooler Weather Means an Increased Risk of Home Fires Annually, thousands of Americans lose their lives to fires, flames and smoke, according to the NSC. Exposure to fire, flame and smoke is the 6^th leading cause of accidental death in the U.S. The potential for home fire increases as temperatures drop. The winter months account for the most fire deaths, especially during the holidays.

Installing a smoke alarm is one of the most important things you can do to protect your family. FEMA says a working smoke alarms decreases your chances of dying in a fire by 50%. Test and clean your smoke alarms once a month and replace batteries annually. Replace smoke alarms once every 10 years. A few more tips:

· Keep an eye on the location of portable heaters they start fires

· Keep combustibles a safe distance away from fireplaces

· Do not let candles burn unattended

· Be sure not to overload extension cords

· Buy an extinguisher for the house and keep it charged up

· Make sure heating pads and blankets are in good condition or replace them

Source: National Safety Council