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Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Reporting of near-misses
Date: March 28, 2013 1:24:53 AM EDT
Author: Stephen Stepenuck 		Next by Date:
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Training program feedback survey?
Date: March 28, 2013 9:31:34 AM EDT
Author: Wright, Mike

From: Ray Cook <raycook**At_Symbol_Here**APEXHSE.COM>
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Reporting of near-misses
Date: March 28, 2013 8:27:05 AM EDT
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Message-ID: <CD794C65.146B0%sstepenuck**At_Symbol_Here**ne.rr.com>

Good morning,

Near-misses are, in fact, incidents with little or no harm. Most
that occur could have had much worse outcomes such as:

Injury
Facility or equipment damage
Fire
Legal implications
Regulatory implications

Each near-miss is an opportunity, a gift if you will, to fix a
problem before the rest of the possible outcomes occur. Each NM
should be investigated (without jeopardy), a corrective action
determined and implemented, and discussed at the beginning of the
next class following the resolution (and shared and discussed
with similar classes as well). Sharing only takes a few minutes
and helps transmit key knowledge about hazards present in the
environment and encourages reporting by others.


Regards!

Raymond L. Cook, Jr., MSIH, CIH, CSP
President & Principal Consultant
Apex HSE, LLC
http://apexhse.com
832.477.4454

1 Cor 1:18


-----Original Message-----
From: DCHAS-L Discussion List [mailto:dchas-l**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU] On
Behalf Of Stephen Stepenuck
Sent: Thursday, March 28, 2013 12:25 AM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Reporting of near-misses

I think I've cautioned about this before, but:

Lacking a cohesive department where *every* faculty member is on
board with such a policy, and/or lacking an effective
administrative presence, there is the sad but real prospect that
a "paper" trail might result that could make it look like only
students of those conscientious folk who reported the
near-misses [and accidents] were getting hurt. Heaven forbid
that a
student should be injured and you find yourself in court, because
opposing counsel could and would mop the floor with you, using
the [incomplete] record that could make the worst problem faculty
look better than you with respect to safety.

That said, reporting near-misses is obviously the right thing to
do to help improve everyone's working conditions. This sounds
like the anonymous reporting system should encourage more honest
reporting, at least with multiple facilities involved [to
camouflage the guilty]--but that does not show you as well where
you need to focus improvement efforts in your own
operations. Good luck!

Steve Stepenuck

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