When teaching about near-miss reporting, which practice should be emphasized?

• A. Reporting and conducting root-cause analysis
• B. Reporting only when injuries occur
• C. Keeping reports confidential and not sharing widely
• D. Avoiding reporting to prevent workload

Answer: (A)

Near-miss reporting is a proactive way to improve safety by catching hazards before anyone is harmed. When you pair reporting with root-cause analysis, you don’t just log that something almost happened—you investigate to uncover the underlying system or process weaknesses that allowed the near-miss to occur. Then you implement corrective actions to prevent recurrence. This approach creates learning opportunities, drives better processes, and reduces future risk across the organization.

If you only report after injuries, you miss valuable near-miss data that could stop incidents from happening. Keeping reports confidential and not sharing widely blocks organizational learning, and avoiding reporting to reduce workload keeps hazards hidden and unaddressed.