Accidents and Incidents

What is the difference between accident, incident and near miss?

Near misses are unplanned events that did not result in injury, damage, or illness, but could have. Near misses can often leave employees shaken up, or stunned, but they were not injured. When you think of a near miss, you can picture a car that has run a stop sign and almost hit someone coming through the intersection. While the car made it through ‘safely’, the other driver was likely shaken up. He or she may feel compelled to report the incident so that other vehicles do not do the same thing. There are no injuries or property damage.

Reporting accidents and incidents

To effectively manage workplace injuries, it is imperative that accident, incident, injury, near hit, and gradual process injury reporting systems are in place.  Almost all health and safety standards, including ISO 45001, require that all accidents and incidents be reported, recorded, and investigated, so that corrective measures can be taken.

Immediately following the reporting of incidents and injuries, employers should conduct investigations based on predetermined criteria. An investigation of incidents and injuries helps employers prevent future incidents by taking corrective measures.

Employers can use near-miss investigations to evaluate the frequency and likely impact of such events, allowing them to implement prevention measures before any injuries occur.