Course Description
Near Misses are typically defined as an incident where a worker could have gotten hurt or property could have been damaged but wasn’t for various reasons, including just luck.
Essentially, "Near Misses" are accidents that did not happen. For instance, a ladder in poor repair that is replaced before an accident happens; someone who falls off of an unguarded work platform and who (luckily) does not get injured...this time; etc., etc.
Correctly or not, many organizations chalk these incidents up to good fortune and go about their business, never taking the time to use these incidents as the wake-up calls they should be.
In recent years, however, many organizations have begun to focus on the collection of Near Miss reports from their employees in the belief that these incidents provide essential clues to systemic problems within work processes and procedures or unsafe work habits that workers have developed.
Thus, Near Miss reporting can be a way of capturing these events – and investigating or taking correct action before someone gets hurt.
Learning Objectives:
This session focuses on how to develop, implement, and maintain a Near Miss reporting system. It teaches you what to collect, how to effectively and efficiently collect it, and what to do with the information after it has been collected.
In this session you will learn:
- What’s the real definition of a near miss?
- Is near miss reporting just the “safety flavor of the month” or is it something your organization should be paying attention to?
- How to seamlessly incorporate near miss reporting into your current incident reporting system
- How to encourage employee to report near misses and still make sure you aren’t’ setting your organization up for “tattletales” that can’t be proven
- Should you allow anonymous reporting?
- Should you reward reports?
- How to get the best use of the information near miss reports provide
- Aligning your near miss reporting program with current best safety practices
About Your Speaker:
Pamela Ferrante Walaski, CSP, CHMM is the President of JC Safety & Environmental, Inc., located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. JC Safety provides safety consultation services to a wide variety of sectors, including construction, manufacturing, and government. Ms. Ferrante is a frequent speaker on the topic of risk and crisis communications as well as emergency response, the aging workforce, safety committees, safety incentive programs, and contractor safety.
Pam has presented general sessions, pre-conference workshops, and seminars on a wide variety of topics, including aging workforces, managing serious incidents, safety and health management systems, and risk and crisis communications. She is a regular presenter at the national conferences of ASSE, AIHA, AHMP, and the National Safety Council at locations all over the country from Alaska to Denver as well as overseas in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
Pam is a member of the American Society of Safety Engineers, currently serving in numerous Society-level positions, including Assistant Administrator of the Consultants Practice Specialty, Chair of the Technical Publications Advisory Committee, Leadership Conference Planning Committee and Assistant regional Vice President for Finance for Region VIII. She is also a member of the American Industrial Hygiene Association and Institute of Hazardous Materials Professionals.
PHR / SPHR Credits!This program has been approved for 1.5 recertification credit hours through the HR Certification Institute. For more information about certification or recertification, please visit the HR Certification Institute website at www.hrci.org. The use of this seal is not an endorsement by HRCI of the quality of the program. It means that this program has met HRCI's criteria to be pre-approved for re-certification credit.