A near miss is an accident that doesn’t happen, or an unsafe event that falls short of causing significant injury, damage, or release of hazardous materials to the environment. They are also referred to as “close calls” or “good catches”. Near misses can happen in the lab or in the field, as well as in your everyday life.
Sharing our experiences with near misses helps improve safety for everyone within our research community. Sometimes it takes nearly missing a serious accident for us to really see that a hazard exists. Recognizing and reporting near misses helps improve lab safety for us all.
It is important to consider that a near miss can easily become a direct hit under different circumstances.
What is considered a near miss?
- Unsafe conditions
- Unsafe behaviors
- Small spills
- Environmental concerns
- Industrial hygiene concerns
- Minor reactive chemical concerns
When we make others aware of our near miss experiences through Near Miss Reporting, it can help everyone avoid injury or other harm. AL employs an anonymous form for allow anyone within our lab community to report near misses. You don’t have to provide your contact information unless you’d like the Safety Committee or Administration to follow up with you and no personal information is collected with the form submission.
To report a near miss or safety concern, or to make a safety-related suggestion, visit the form here or use your smartphone to scan the QR code provided.
To learn more about near misses, check out this brief video from Dow Chemical’s Lab Safety Academy: