Safety Meeting Toolbox Topics and Tailgate Talks
What is a “near miss?” Webster defines it as: “A result that is nearly, but not quite, successful.” What does this mean to industry? It simply means that a serious accident almost occurred. Someone trips over a pallet, but doesn’t fall. Two forklifts almost collide at a corner. A tool is dropped, but toes are missed…this time.
Unlike television, real accidents can cause suffering so real and vivid that those persons involved or witnessing rarely forget the flow of blood, broken limbs, crushed bodies, or screams of pain. An accident without injury though is more like the bloodless, painless Hollywood version and therefore easy to forget. In 1931, H.W. Heinrich theorized that for every major accident there are 29 minor accidents and 300 near misses.
How many times have you been in trouble for something you never said? At one time or another, it's happened to everyone. When we multiply that by the number of people we interact with at work, it is reasonable to conclude that miscommunication goes on all the time.