Tool Box Talk: Close Calls and Near Misses

Close Calls and Near Misses

Unlike a television shootout, serious accidents cause real anguish and suffering. So real and vivid that those involved rarely forget the flow of blood, the broken limbs or the screams of pain.

Any accident without injury, though, is more like the bloodless, painless fakery of television violence. Without sense or propose in the drama and therefor easy to forget.

In real life however, there is danger in brushing off accidents that do not hurt, harm or damage.

When they happen, we should immediately run the red flag up the pole because an injury free accident is like a one hundred and four degree fever, a red-hot symptom that something that was unplanned, unexpected, and very wrong.

Sometimes, we misdiagnose this symptom of the close call because luck or blind chance saves us from injury. So we tend to shrug off and forget the close call with a casual kind of ignorance.

Moreover it is really ignorant to rely on luck for effective accident control.

Only analysis and effective counteraction can forestall trouble from the little close calls before they can happen again. This list of unexplained, unplanned events warning of danger in the workplace may be endless:

A stack of material sags and collapses; Someone nearby slips and nearly falls on a slick surface, bumps against a sharp object, or a ladder slips and nearly topples a worker.

The Same Things That Cause Accidents Cause Near Misses:

• Unsafe acts, such as improper lifting; walking under an overhead load; cutting, grinding, or chipping without safety glasses; not using proper Personal Protective Equipment, etc.
• Unsafe conditions, such as poorly maintained equipment, oil or grease on floors, welding leads that have been laid in walkways, trash and boxes that have been left in hallways, etc.
• Hurrying and taking risks to get a project done faster, or to wrap up a job at quitting time.

Report Near Misses Before They Become Accidents:

• Once a near miss occurs, report it immediately to your supervisor. The potential for such incidents exists all over the workplace, so all employees-not just supervisors– must help identify them.
• If the near miss is a result of an unsafe condition, don’t continue to work under that condition until the problem has been corrected and your supervisor gives the okay to proceed.
• If the incident is a result of unsafe acts, be certain that everyone involved has been alerted to their actions before they continue with the job.

Near Misses Are A Warning:

Letting a near miss go unreported provides an opportunity for a serious accident to occur. Correcting these actions or conditions will enhance the safety within your facility and provide a better working environment for everyone involved. Don’t let yourself or co-workers become statistics–report near misses to your supervisor.

Learn the real lesson from close calls. They can happen again and again until they cause an injury.

And a bonus quote from Galileo Galilei:

I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn’t learn something from him.

Thanks for the share, TO!