Near Miss Reporting Database Tool
In addition to the many metrics for evaluating safety performance on construction sites, near miss reporting provides a way to identify and mitigate hazardous conditions and situations before a worker illness, injury, or fatality occurs. Organizations can also use the information gathered from near miss reporting to improve worker safety training and education. (See Research Summary 301-1, Using Near Miss Reporting to Enhance Safety Performance, for a more detailed explanation of the value of near miss reporting.)
CII established CII Research Team 301, Using Near Miss Reporting to Enhance Safety Performance, to investigate the value and implementation of near miss reporting as a leading indicator. The research produced the implementable near miss reporting program introduced in this document. Along with this guide, the program’s other constituent tools include a database tool, a program evaluation tool, and a template for near miss reporting. In this guide, the research team outlines the seven iterative steps of the near miss reporting program: 1) Define, 2) Roll Out, 3) Collect, 4) Analyze, 5) Take Corrective Action, 6) Communicate, and 7) Encourage. For each step, the guide provides recommended practices for successful implementation. For example, at the Define step, the team found that near miss reporting increases drastically when management establishes a consistently blame-free project environment for workers.
RT301 field-tested the near miss reporting program on six active construction sites. Five of the six sites experienced a net increase of near misses reported during the testing period. Even given the brevity of this testing period, initial quantitative site interview data, coupled with several company-specific case studies, demonstrated that worker safety performance improved through use of the program.
