Hopefully, in our daily routine, the closest most of us come to a near miss is by ‘Googling’ Ultimate Near Misses on YouTube – 4min 51sec of clips of the luckiest escapes you’re ever likely to see.
They’re amazing. Action involving cars, trains and aircraft will leave you either crying with laughter or with frustration – how can people be so lucky, or so stupid?
More seriously though all soldiers will, at some time or other, have had near misses, shrugged them off and just got on with things without giving them any second thoughts. This is particularly the case if it’s been our own fault and ‘we’ve got away with it’. We’re probably going to keep REALLY quiet about those incidents!
It’s worth noting though that if a near miss occurs, it actually becomes a great opportunity to learn a lesson at no cost. The same conditions are in place if the accident actually happens and someone is injured – or luck takes a hand and the incident can just be dismissed as a near miss. The difference between the near miss and the accident might only be a fraction of a second or a few inches. Unfortunately, should it happen again, that small margin of safety might not be there the second time round. This is one of the main reasons why the Army Incident Notification Cell (AINC) changed its requirements so that all units must now report their near misses as well as their accidents. We really need to lean the maximum we can from these ‘free lessons’.
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The NumbersStatistics tell us that for every 330 incidents of the same type, 300 produce no injuries, 29 produce minor injuries and one produces a serious injury (these statistics can vary but the ratio is about the same). The problem is that we never know when the serious injury will occur. Common sense tells us that we should be able to reduce the number of injuries stemming from accidents if we can also reduce the number of near misses. |
Report Near Misses and Learn the Lessons
It is often said that history tends to repeat itself – and if you aren’t learning from the past, you’re ‘doomed to repeat it’. If you’ve had a near miss and you don’t report it, it could become a serious accident for another member of your own team. Who’d want that on their conscience?
Why People Don’t Report Near Misses
- Embarrassment to admit their own mistakes.
- Fear of being blamed.
- Minor events which occur regularly and with little consequence become accepted as ‘trivial’ occurrences.
- Perception that nothing can be done about the situation.
- Perception that because changes are so constant – its just not worth reporting.
How to Deal with a Near Miss
- Report the incident to your line manager.
- Line managers must investigate and provide feedback to the person that reported it.
- Remedial action must be seen to be taken.
- Encourage openness and discussion on how it could have been prevented.
- Make people aware of the incident reporting culture when orienting new staff.
- The Chain of Command should consider making a six-monthly local award to recognise the most valuable near miss reported.
Reporting Near Misses to AINC
In April 2008, the AINC reporting system changed. Since then, units have been required to report their near misses as well all their accidents. In the year prior to the change only 13 near miss incidents were reported. Since the increased requirement came in (almost two years ago) the rate of reporting has increased by about tenfold.
Reporting a near miss is just the same as reporting an accident. It can be done online via this link
Dowload the MOD Form 510 – the AINC Reporting Form in Word format. Save to your local drive, fill it in and re-save it. Then send as an attachment to either: CESO(A)-AINC-(Mailbox) or cesoaincgm@land.mod.uk
Anonymous Reporting
If you have an idea, a comment on safety or something that you want to pass on that in some way could prevent harm to others – and you don’t want to use your name, from the ‘Report Something’ page, scroll down to the ‘Your Suggestions’ section and click on the ‘why not inform us’ link.
The Army is determined to reduce accidents. Reporting near misses should help achieve that.
Remember, investigating a near miss, a close shave – or whatever you want to call it – will be far better than the aftermath of an accident with a colleague injured or worse and external investigators tramping round your unit asking difficult questions.