Open AccessLearning from Workers’ Near-miss Reports to Improve Organizational Management
Author(s) -
Emily J. Haas,
Brendan Demich,
Joseph W. McGuire
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
mining, metallurgy and exploration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.305
H-Index - 28
eISSN - 2524-3470
pISSN - 2524-3462
DOI - 10.1007/s42461-020-00206-9
Subject(s) - near miss , situational ethics , risk management , occupational safety and health , quarter (canadian coin) , work (physics) , situation awareness , incident report , safety culture , psychology , personal protective equipment , risk assessment , business , operations management , applied psychology , medicine , forensic engineering , computer science , engineering , computer security , social psychology , management , geography , aerospace engineering , archaeology , pathology , covid-19 , mechanical engineering , disease , finance , infectious disease (medical specialty) , economics
Near misses recorded and reported by workers can provide awareness to the potential causes of injury and prompt safety management initiatives. Although most companies require near-miss reporting, it is unclear what the value of these reports are, if any, and how they influence subsequent actions or controls to reduce on-the-job risks. Researchers at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) conducted a case study with an aggregates company in which near-miss reports were analyzed at each of their locations over an entire quarter during the summer of 2018. Within that quarter, workers recorded 249 near misses. Of those, 167 were valid near misses that occurred at work. Researchers coded the reports using a qualitative 5 × 5 risk matrix. Of the 167 near misses, 19% were deemed low risk, 25% moderate risk, 30% high risk, and 26% critical risk. Several patterns in the near-miss incidents were documented, including classification of incidents and common corrective actions referenced (i.e., elimination/substitution, engineering control or redesign, work process/procedures, and personal protective equipment). The analysis provides insight into ways that risk communication and management programs can be improved to reengage workers and their situational awareness on the job.