The HSE defines a near miss as ‘an event not causing harm, but has the potential to cause injury or ill health’ This can include dangerous occurrences that are reportable, as defined in the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR).
The Near Miss Record Book contains clear guidance on what a Near Miss Incident is, the employers and employee’s responsibility and guidance on completing a record.
Near Miss Records are then used to inform risk assessments and to help ensure that serious injuries and accidents do not occur in the future. The book contains 53 incident forms with a perforated top allowing forms to be easily removed from the book for safe storage.
The benefits of a Near Miss Record Book:
Helps obtain information about high risk incidents
Collects information that a business can use to prevent future incidents
Identifies weaknesses in procedures
Can reveal patterns over time helping to highlight risks and learn lessons
The reporting of near miss incidents allows an employer to learn from issues that have occured and change practices or fix problems before a serious incident occurs.