Near-miss reporting safety campaign

Help people report what nearly went wrong, understand which controls failed or were missing, and see what changed as a result.

Build a campaign on this topic

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What is a near miss?

A near miss is an event that did not cause harm but had the potential to do so. It is different from simply spotting a hazard, although both provide useful information. Follow your organisation’s definitions and reporting process, and consider the potential outcome as well as what actually happened.

What should the campaign focus on?

Make reporting accessible and explain what information is useful.
Focus on events, conditions and control gaps rather than blame.
Prioritise significant potential harm through your existing review process.
Show workers how reports led to action and explain unresolved issues.

A practical campaign plan

1
Understand reporting barriers
Ask workers what makes reporting difficult. Check access, terminology and whether people hear back after submitting a concern.
2
Use an approved example
Discuss a real, appropriately anonymised event your organisation has approved for use. Explore what could have happened and which controls need attention; do not invent incident statistics.
3
Close the feedback loop
Agree how concerns are reviewed, who follows up and how the team hears the outcome, using your existing reporting arrangements.

Illustrative campaign example — adapt to your workplace

No harm this time. Learn before next time.

Poster message

Report what nearly went wrong using your workplace’s reporting process. Describe the task, conditions and control gaps so the team can act and share what changed.

Toolbox talk discussion questions

What happened, and what could reasonably have happened?
Which control was missing, failed or difficult to use?
How do we report this through our local process?
How will the team hear about the action taken?

An action to agree

Choose one approved report to review and share its follow-up with the affected team, protecting personal information.

How to follow up

Look at report quality, potential severity, barriers identified and actions followed through. More reports may reflect greater trust rather than worsening safety; fewer reports are not proof of improvement.

Turn the topic into a campaign pack

Safety Campaign Hub can draft toolbox talk wording, poster copy, presentation slides, supervisor briefings and rollout checklists using your campaign details and saved organisation profile. Review all wording against your local assessment and procedures before use. In Artwork Studio, use your own photo and branding or choose a no-image design; no AI images are created.

Free: 5 campaigns per month · Professional: 20 · Team: 75. Allowances are shared across the organisation and reset monthly, including annual subscriptions. Each campaign allows 10 successful AI section rewrites; manual editing does not use that limit.

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Guidance and related reading

The HSE source below is UK guidance. Use it as background, not a substitute for your local requirements, task assessment or competent advice.

HSE: Investigating accidents and incidents