Tool Box Talk: Learning Safety through NEAR MISS EVENTS

“Learning Safety Through Near Miss Events” Ref: Kevin Jones; Safetyatworkblog.com

One of the most important aspects of safety is reporting and investigating “near misses” or “near hits” or “close calls,” as they are usually often the best to investigate as no one was directly injured and they provide an opportunity for preventing future injuries.

The significance of the near miss may be illustrated by a court case and penalty from South Australia on 28 July 2011.

The media release states that a company was fined over $A40, 000 after a dog box fell over 30 metres without anyone being injured.

“In August 2008 at a building site in Coglin St. Adelaide, an attempt to lift a fully-laden work box (known in the industry as a ‘dog box’) to the seventh floor ended catastrophically when the tower crane failed sending the dog box into a 30-metre freefall. It landed in the laneway separating the site from an adjoining business.

A plastic bin beneath was crushed. Some hoarding was damaged, and there was minor structural damage to the guttering of a neighbouring building which housed a law firm.

The prosecution arose after the investigation determined that two employees of the law firm were at risk of harm because their duties required accessing rubbish bins in the laneway.

However the defendant had failed to declare the laneway an exclusion zone during the lift. The court was told that while the risk of injury was low, the injuries nevertheless could have been severe.

“…an exclusion zone over the laneway would have meant that any materials falling for whatever reason would not have exposed any person to risk.”

“The cause of the equipment failure was found to be a design fault in which a gearbox component of the crane was subject to fatigue stress. This was not part of the case against the company.”

However, this near miss could easily have had catastrophic consequences should the fall have occurred while people were accessing the rubbish bins in the laneway, or sneaking out for a cigarette, or sitting on an upturned milk crate contemplating their career prospects.

The reality of gravity is difficult to argue against when looking for mitigating factors and the attention given to the need for an exclusion zone is well justified.

Near misses are rarely investigated to determine safety management shortcomings due to the fact that no one was injured or harmed in the incident.

But that absence of harm is exactly why near misses are important opportunities to learn – there are plenty of witnesses for a start.

The absence of victims also allows for an analysis without the understandable emotional trauma.

Near misses should never be missed opportunities to improve safety.

And a bonus quote from Lewis Carroll:

“If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.”

Thanks for the share, TO!