If there’s one thing the safety profession consistently agrees on, it’s this: near misses are the golden nuggets we can’t afford to ignore. They’re the moments where something almost went wrong but didn’t – and that makes them one of the most powerful learning tools we have.
As Kelly Nicoll, past President of IOSH and Trustee of the No Falls Foundation, puts it in her discussion with Nick Marshall in Episode 4 of our Grounded in Safety podcast:
‘Near misses and hazard spotting are so essential because we can learn so much from them and nobody’s been hurt.’
Yet despite their value, near misses are still underreported, misunderstood or treated as an administrative nuisance and it’s time to shift that mindset.
Near misses: The safest way to learn from unsafe situations
When a near miss happens:
- Something in the system didn’t work as intended
- Nobody got hurt
That combination gives us insight without injury and a chance to improve without the risk of harm.
In other words, near misses are the closest thing we have to a rehearsal for real incidents and ignoring them is like ignoring the warning signs before a storm.
At Omega Red, we specifically ask our operatives to submit two hazards each month and reward the three most impactful ones with gift vouchers. We then review all these hazards and use them as a teaching moment across our business and our network.
This approach achieves several positive outcomes:
- Increased vigilance in and out of work – operatives are aware of our hazard identification scheme and reminded regularly
- A positive view of near miss learning – reward and healthy competition help shape our safety culture
- Improved safety outcomes for our customers – operatives don’t just share their findings with us – they discuss them in real time on site, help make things safe and offer solutions
- Greater safety awareness across our teams and network – insights learned are shared across a wide variety of sites and sectors
- A genuine reduction in incidents – since introducing our hazard ID scheme, we have seen a consistent reduction in incidents
Some safety professionals do not agree that introducing quotas of near miss identifications is effective. Kelly Nicoll advocates for a less formal approach to identifying hazards, referring to near misses as ‘oh s**t moments – the moments that you’re not gonna tell your mum about’. She emphasises instead the importance of strong, honest working relationships, the power of real stories to drive safety change and building a positive safety culture right from day one, where everyone feels safe to speak up about concerns.
Every company may take a slightly different approach, but the shared aim of ensuring that ‘tomorrow we are working far more safely than we were yesterday’ remains the same, as Nick Marshall highlights in the podcast.
A strong safety culture isn’t one where people avoid mistakes. It’s one where people feel comfortable talking about them and can challenge safety practices without fear.
The 9th camera: A real example of learning
Kelly gives an example of her own experience of how near misses can shape real work. She was part of a team working at height, installing cameras for a sports event at a stadium. There were ten cameras to be installed, and Kelly was working closely with the installation operative, including clipping and unclipping his lanyards at the relevant points. As she explains: ‘On the 9th one, I went to unclip him and realised he hadn’t been clipped on – that could’ve been the time that he fell.’
In this case, the repetition of the same task had caused a lack of attention to each important safety step.
They made a simple but powerful change to their standard operating procedure: adding a step where the team talks through every part of the task to refocus attention on the critical height‑safety elements each time the work is carried out.
Learning from what goes right
Nick and Kelly also discuss the value of learning from jobs that go well. Positive investigations help us understand the conditions that create success, not just the ones that create risk, so we should take the opportunity to investigate why jobs went exceptionally well, e.g.:
- The team communicated brilliantly
- The apprentice confidently challenged a team member for using unsafe equipment
- People looked out for each other instinctively
- The task flowed smoothly because everyone was focused
Those moments are evidence of strong values and an example of what ‘good’ looks like so that it can be replicated further across working practices.
The power in looking out for people
The real strength of safety isn’t in the paperwork or the procedures. It’s in the people.
Whether it’s the moment someone chooses to speak up, the apprentice who feels empowered or the team that genuinely cares about one another, when people look out for each other rather than just themselves, safety stops being a rule and becomes a shared value. That’s the culture every organisation should be aiming for.
Final thought
Near misses aren’t inconveniences. They’re valuable pieces of insight and opportunity to learn.
The more we talk openly and honestly about them, without blame, the safer and stronger our workplaces become.
And when we pair that with celebrating the things that go right, we build a culture where safety truly lives and thrives.
