Posted By Merv Newman Everyone who reports a near-miss gets a cup of coffee and grateful thanks of management, plus asked to participate in solving the problem

Posted By Anthony Slinger When I worked at Cottam Power Station, the near hit culture was very, very good. Managers encouraged everybody to report "near hits" under a no blame culture. The near hits were recorded on a lotus notes database. A H&S sub committee met once a month and looked at the near hits to identify trends, plan & implement practical solutions and re evaluate the figures in the following months to measure the effect. This was all reported back to the main H&S committee. The biggest challenge was to get people to report and also for people to accept that they were, perhaps, not working as safely as they could. At the end of the year, all the teams voted for the best near hit. The last one that won, was a guy who wired a panel up incorrectly and it went with a bit of a bang. He could have covered it up and said nothing, but chose to share his mistake with others. Although all near hits are of value, it was decided that this particular one won because it was felt that the incident was reported in the true spirit intended and had the most to learn from because of the potential of injury, damage and/or loss. The guy won a gift voucher.