Near Miss

Does your organization have a process and program enabled to report on near misses easily? Are corrective actions being implemented to lower the frequency and severity of future occurrences? Are employees risk sensitive?

A near miss is an unplanned event that did not result in injury or damage - but had the potential to do so. When only reporting claims and omitting near misses, your organization is not getting the full picture of potential hazards.

It's been discussed that with every claim there are upwards of 10 near miss incidents with the same root cause.

Organizations can use this data in a predictive fashion to uncover the potential of future occurrences and plan accordingly. Not only does this process make your organization a safer environment, but it also leads to a reduction in the cost of claims and insurance premiums.

Below are three areas your organization should focus on when reporting near miss incidents.

3 Important Factors When Tracking Near Miss Incidents

1. Create a supportive culture

A culture that encourages employees to report near misses will result in more being identified.

  • Make sure the culture is supportive of being preventative towards near misses instead of potentially punishing employees for them. You do not want employees to fear coming forward with an issue that can pose a high risk to your organization, even if the employee is at fault. 
  • All employees must be risk sensitive. They must be constantly informed about the value of risk management and risk management techniques. 
  • Employees have to be trained in the use, purpose, and application of all risk management policies and procedures. Emphasis must be given to the consequences of not adhering to policies. 

2. Implement software

A comprehensive but easy-to-use software system should be implemented for tracking and managing all data.

  • The system should allow for easy data submission through online forms accessible from all devices. Making the reporting process easier will increase timely submissions.
  • Many employees within your organization will define near misses differently so provide multiple examples to act as a guide.
  • Enable automated tasks and reporting. This ensures the causes are identified, and corrective actions are implemented and monitored to measure effectiveness.

3. Analyze the information

Regularly analyze data through predictive and trend analysis reporting. 

  • Near miss trend reporting allows your organization to uncover high-risk areas that were previously unknown.
  • Be predictive and proactive. Using this trend data, implement mitigation techniques to lower the frequency and severity of future occurrences.
  • Ensure all areas of the organizations are aware of the findings and the implemented corrective actions, policies and procedures in place.

ClearRisk's Claims, Incident, and Risk Management Software provides the exact benefits described above. Our automation and trend analysis will make it easy to identify and avoid near-misses. Want more information? Learn more below. 

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