PDO aims to maintain a safe and healthy working environment by correcting situations that caused or could likely cause injury or damage. When an incident occurs, it is important to report the occurrence so corrective actions could be taken to make sure that a similar or more serious incidents do not re-occur. An incident is defined as “an unplanned and undesired event or chain of events that have, or could have, resulted in injury or illness, damage to assets, environment, company reputation, and/or consequential business loss”. There are different types of reportable incidents:
- Unsafe acts/conditions including Life-Saving Rule violations.
- Near misses
- Incidents with consequences
Normally, staff are good in reporting incidents with consequences. However, reporting near miss incidents is as important as reporting incident s with consequences. Near miss incidents are gifts that enable us to learn and rectify the situation before it escalates to injuries or damages.
HSE Advice
A near miss incident an unplanned event that did not result in an injury, illness, or damage to assets, environment or Company reputation, but had the potential to do so if some circumstance of the event were different. Only a fortunate break in the chain of events prevented an injury, fatality or damage; in other words, a miss that was nonetheless very near.