7 Reasons Why Workers Don’t Report Near Misses

An effective near miss reporting (NMR) system is one of the most effective tools for improving workplace safety. Near misses – hazardous incidents where harm was narrowly avoided – offer an opportunity to learn and improve safety measures before someone is seriously injured.

But you can only learn from near misses if workers report them consistently and accurately, which isn’t guaranteed.

Some workers ignore reporting altogether or choose to stay silent. Others may water down reports, leaving out critical details to avoid admitting fault.

Whatever the reason, a lack of quality reports robs you of the opportunity to improve workplace safety before a real accident happens.

Moreover, certain near misses must be reported to the Health and Safety Executive under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations.

Some supervisors may confuse a lack of reports as evidence of safety. But this is unlikely.

All workplaces experience near misses. How they’re followed up determines if they’re a one-off event or a dress rehearsal for a genuine accident coming soon.

The accident triangle (also known as the safety triangle or Bird’s triangle after the researcher who refined it) suggests that near misses happen far more often than accidents. In fact, Bird claimed that for every major accident, there are 600 near misses.

These exact numbers have been disputed, but they reveal a truth: accidents don’t just happen. If you’re only hearing about incidents where someone’s harmed, you’re missing the likely hundreds of near misses that came before.

We’ve collected seven common reasons why workers don’t report near misses. These reasons can be grouped into two broad categories: poor psychological safety and issues with your NMR system.

Psychological safety is a measure of how comfortable workers are speaking up. In workplaces where psychological safety is poor, workers won’t report near accidents or other safety concerns because they fear the consequences.

Issues with your NMR system are more straightforward. It could be that workers don’t understand the value of reporting or simply that reporting procedures are too complicated.

We’ve explored these challenges and how to overcome them below.

Poor psychological safety is one of the primary reasons why workers don’t report near misses. Workers must feel ‘psychologically safe’ reporting errors for your NMR system to function. So, there are a number of common fears you must address to develop the necessary culture among your team.

Self-preservation is a powerful motivator. Workers won’t report a mistake or near miss if they feel they’ll be blamed, as this could be seen as a threat to their job security or prospects.

To overcome this issue, you need to make it understood that silence isn’t the safer option. Explain that near miss reporting is about making workplaces safer, not finding someone to blame or punish. It can also help to allow anonymous reporting if workers are still worried.

Workers may feel that admitting mistakes makes them look incompetent. Being seen as incompetent is psychologically distressing and may cause anxiety over job security, similar to the fear of being blamed.

As a leader, you must shift the focus away from individual mistakes and towards learning and improvement. When workers understand that occasional errors are accepted and that their reports can help prevent more significant problems, they’ll be more willing to share their experiences.

We naturally follow other people’s leads. If the majority of workers, especially those higher up, keep near misses quiet, so will others.

Addressing concerns over blame or embarrassment can help with this issue. If you gradually change perceptions around near miss reporting, more workers will contribute. When the majority of workers report near misses, the few holdouts will likely change their attitudes.

Reporting a near miss or safety concern can feel like challenging authority if you enforce strict workplace hierarchies. Challenging authority can make workers feel uncomfortable, and they may also fear it will hurt their job prospects.

To overcome this, it’s important to flatten the hierarchy when it comes to safety discussions. Promote open dialogue and make it clear that everyone’s voice matters, regardless of their position. This can sometimes be as simple as encouraging civility. Insist all supervisors welcome feedback and ensure team members speak professionally and politely to each other.

Workers may not recognise every near miss for what it is. They might assume that if they ‘fix’ an issue before anyone’s actually hurt, there’s nothing to report.

You need to set a low reporting threshold and reinforce it. You and your team need a shared understanding of what a near miss is and what needs to be reported. Make it clear that even the most minor issues can have grave consequences further down the line.

Workers won’t always go out of their way to make a report if they don’t see why it’s important. There are two parts to this issue: either workers don’t understand the value of reporting, or they don’t see a personal benefit.

To tackle the first issue, connect near miss reporting to noticeable improvements in safety. Highlight when something changes for the better in the workplace because someone spoke up. Training can also help workers understand the value of near miss reporting and how it makes them and their colleagues safer.

You can help resolve the second issue with gratitude. Thank workers who make reports sincerely. You also might want to consider some kind of reward system. Workers who make reports are helping you do your job and make the workplace safer, so they deserve recognition for their efforts.

No one likes to jump through hoops. Workers won’t find the time to report if the procedure is too complicated or time-consuming, particularly if they don’t see the value in reporting.

Simplify your reporting procedures. You want to make it as easy as possible for workers to flag near misses while still gathering the necessary details. Online NMR systems can be helpful for this (they also make managing reports easier).

• Near miss reports are critical for preventing future accidents, but workers often stay silent because of personal concerns or a lack of understanding.
• Promoting psychological safety is essential to encourage more reporting.
• Ensuring that reporting procedures are simple and highlighting the value of near miss reports can increase participation.
• A strong safety culture helps break down barriers to reporting.

Improving near miss reporting is essential to creating a safer workplace.

Our online Near Miss Training course is designed to equip managers with the tools needed to develop an effective NMR system and overcome the challenges of underreporting.

You’ll learn how to work with front-line employees to capture reports, reveal how work is actually done and analyse the underlying issues that cause human error, giving you the insight you need to deliver tangible impacts on safety and performance.