Page 377 - Safety Memo
P. 377
Safety Memo #25 Near Misses
Date: February 12, 2020
To: ACI MANAGEMENT
[Near Misses]
What is a near miss?
OSHA and The National Safety Council define a near miss as "an unplanned event that did not result in injury, illness or
damage ‐ but had the potential to do so."
Examples of near misses:
• A piece of debris falls from above and hits the ground where a worker was standing just moments before.
• A crane operator almost hits a worker when moving the machine.
• A poorly maintained piece of equipment emits sparks and the sparks fall on or close to flammable materials.
• A worker trips over an unmarked step and falls without injury.
What do I do when a near miss happens?
• Secure the safety of all involved persons/property.
• Investigate the near miss. Make a record what happened, who was involved, where and when the event took
place, and how or why the event occurred.
• Write up the near miss event in an Accident/Incident Report (attached). Make sure to indicate incident type as a
"near miss." Send reports to all involved parties and CC: Brian Shin/Safety Administrator.
• Implement a countermeasure to prevent more similar near misses or injuries from happening in the future.
• Have a site‐wide safety meeting to inform all workers of the near miss and the countermeasures implemented
to prevent more incidents/accidents.
Reporting and announcing near misses will decrease the chances of them happening again. This applies not only to
your own jobsite but the jobsites of all your colleagues at ACI. Keeping records and reports of near miss events will
help us plan better for future jobs where we might see similar hazards.
Safety is ACI’s number one priority.
