When it comes to improving occupational safety, reporting near-miss incidents is probably one the statistics you already monitor. When we surveyed occupational health and safety specialists as part of the Safety Management Trend Report in 2021, we found that 55% regard near misses as an integral part of their KPIs. But why is it so important to track and record the accidents that never happened, as well as those that did?
One way to understand the relevance of near-miss reporting is to take a look at the accident triangle, which depicts the relationship between accident severity and frequency. This statistical tool can provide vital insight into your safety culture, highlighting how a severe accident is often just the tip of the iceberg.
When understood as part of a holistic approach to incident management, near miss accidents can highlight significant opportunities to improve safety practice. To help you identify potential optimizations with far-reaching impact, we explore how the accident triangle can inform KPI evaluation and how to define targets for a more successful and sustainable occupational safety strategy.
what is an accident triangle?
When trying to understand how the accident cause triangle works and what it represents, it can be useful to understand its origins. In the 1930s, Herbert W. Heinrich conducted empirical research into occupational safety. In his analysis of 550,000 accidents in industrial settings in the USA, he identified an almost constant ratio of severe accidents, minor accidents and near misses.
For every severe accident with serious injury/fatality, there were 29 minor accidents and 300 near misses. When depicted as a triangle, it serves as a visual representation of the relative frequency of different accident types.
In the 90 years since Heinrich’s analysis, occupational health and safety has evolved – and so too has the accident triangle. One of the most notable additions came from Frank E. Bird, who added a fourth level to the triangle. To provide a more nuanced view of the severity of accidents at the tip of the triangle, Bird drew a distinction between fatal accidents and accidents with serious injury that result in lost working time.
In 2003 a further accident triangle was produced on behalf of ConocoPhillips, with at-risk behaviors added as an additional level at the base of the triangle.
how to apply the accident triangle ratio in practice
Although reducing minor incidents may not in itself eliminate severe accidents, something all three pyramids show is that there are far more opportunities to learn from near misses than from severe incidents, which occur infrequently.
Identifying issues on the lower levels of the accident triangle and using the insights gained to improve health and safety will have a positive impact on overall performance and culture, which is a key component of sustainability.
Unfortunately, having a low number of reported near-misses does not necessarily indicate that few incidents have occurred. That’s because, in reality, near misses and safety incidents are often simply not reported.
When deciding on a set of incident management KPIs, you should therefore focus not only on severe accidents at the tip of the triangle but also on the ratio of near misses and minor accidents in your company.
By exploring how your company’s figures correspond to the accident triangle, you can deduce how your safety strategy measures up. As a rule, the “flatter” the pyramid, the better. This means that reports and instances of unsafe behavior should be far more prevalent than serious or fatal accidents. Not only does this reflect very safe work processes, it is also indicative of a positive corporate culture.
practical tips to increase near-miss reporting
As the accident triangle makes clear, safety managers require as many near miss incidents as possible to be reported in order to get an accurate picture of their overall health and safety levels.
In a recent LinkedIn survey, however, 56% of respondents said it was “very challenging” to get employees to report near misses openly. So, how can you overcome this challenge and obtain more data on near misses? The following tips can help you boost the level of near-miss reporting in your company:
- Easy-to-use technology – the first step is to make it as easy as possible to submit reports. Once you remove barriers by introducing simple technology that requires little to no training, you can switch your focus to motivating employees to report.
- Provide incentives – establishing personal incentives for active reporting can add motivation but you should also make clear that you can only increase near-miss reports if everyone works together. This encourages passive employees to participate.
- Communicate your mission – use multiple channels such as email, your EHS software, noticeboards, your intranet and your company’s social networks. Communicate your message consistently and flag in relevant meetings.
- Focus on the positive – when it comes to measuring the success of near-miss reporting, positive KPIs are generally more insightful than negative ones. For example, you might start by looking at the total number of near-miss reports per person per year. To begin with, a realistic target could be between 1 and 10 reports per person per year, depending on your company’s current safety culture.
If your initiative gathers pace and you receive a high number of reports, you need to be ready to respond quickly with feedback. The easiest way to do this is to introduce an EHS software solution such as the AMCS EHS Management platform, which can automate both the feedback process and follow-up tasks.
When employees get involved and you achieve your targets together, it’s important to communicate and celebrate this, but it’s also remember to avoid complacency. At this point, you should set the bar higher with more ambitious goals for the following year. After all, every finishing line is the start of a new race on the path to sustainable safety performance.
We invite you to learn more about AMCS EHS Management – contact us now. You can also see for yourself how it streamlines your EHS tasks. Request a free demo now.