(No matter how small you think it is)
By Alan Newey
Over my 15 years on site (back when I still had two arms), I reckon it’s safe to say I had around 150 near misses.
From a nip on my gloves, to my hair being too close to high-speed rollers, a bit of skin off my finger, or a tear in my shirt or overalls — I used to brush these off. But was it just luck that nothing worse happened, or was it negligence?
By not speaking up or reporting these near misses, I now look back and see how the pattern could have easily progressed like this:
- Near miss – I rip my shirt or overalls.
- Near miss – I lose a bit of skin on my finger.
- Near miss – Deeper cut, more blood.
- Minor incident – Bigger cut, treated on site, but not documented.
- Minor incident – Losing a finger.
- Major incident – Losing a hand.
- Severe incident – Losing an arm.
- Worst case – Death.
This is exactly what the Safety Theory Triangle shows — that for every serious incident, there are usually many smaller near misses leading up to it.
When we report near misses and actually do something about them, we can break that chain.
It might just be the action that prevents a serious or fatal incident down the track.
So next time something almost happens, don’t ignore it.
Report it — because that one report might stop someone else (or you) from being the next statistic.
If you’d like to have Alan share “The Human Side of Safety” and his lived experience with your workplace or organisation, visit Alan’s page to learn more.
