Near-Miss Reporting

The purpose of this procedure is to ensure that near-miss incidents are reported, recorded, and investigated. Reporting and sharing information with relevant parties creates an opportunity to answer the questions of what happened and why, with the objective of preventing recurrence.

This procedure applies to University at Buffalo (UB) Facilities and Residential Facilities employees. All employees have a role in creating and maintaining an injury-free workplace.

Supervisors are critical in promoting safety to their employees, including near-miss reporting. Supervisors are responsible for providing Near Miss Incident Report Forms to employees, initiating documentation, sharing reports with management, and reviewing reports with employees.

Employees are responsible for reporting workplace incidents, hazardous conditions, and near misses to their supervisors. Employees may be asked to document the incident using the Near Miss Incident Report Form.

Environment, Health, and Safety (EH&S) is responsible for administering this procedure, reviewing incidents, offering corrective actions, and maintaining reports.

The Facilities Safety Committee and Residential Facilities Safety & Health Committee are responsible for reviewing Near Miss reports, offering corrective actions, and providing follow-up.

A near miss is a potential hazard or incident in which no property is damaged and no personal injury sustained, but where, given a slight shift in time or position, damage or injury could have occurred. Near misses also may be referred to as close calls, near accidents, near hits, or injury-free events. Near misses are a valuable source of information as they provide the opportunity to identify and correct hazards or weaknesses so that corrective actions can be implemented.

A near miss is an opportunity to improve safety in the workplace based on a condition or an incident with the potential for more serious consequences, including:

• Unsafe conditions
• Unsafe behaviors
• Minor incidents and injuries that have the potential to be more serious
• Events that could have occurred but did not
• Events where property damage could have resulted, but did not

Call Facilities Customer Service or EH&S to correct a serious hazard.

Any employee who witnesses a near miss incident should complete a Near Miss Incident Report Form. Forms can be submitted electronically or by hardcopy to the EH&S office. If desired, employees can submit reports anonymously.

Near Miss Reports will be reviewed and discussed at Facilities Safety Committee and Residential Facilities Safety & Health Committee meetings.

The intent of the Near Miss Report is to identify the root cause of the incident and create a corrective action preventing future recurrence. The reporting supervisor and/or employee may be asked to participate in the incident investigation. 

Near Miss Reports should be shared with employees regularly during departmental meetings and/or team huddles. If a corrective action has not been implemented or needs further review, the near miss shall be kept on the Safety Committee Agenda until it is resolved.