We have set up a simple email address that people can email any near miss type issues to the SHE team without having to fill in a form. We look at them a and decide whether to simply record them (we thank any body who sends us a message) or to escalate them. It has been going since April and we seem to be getting more near misses reported than before. We have emphasised to managers that near-miss reporting is a good thing and encourage them to encourage their staff to report.

We use exactly the same reporting processes for near misses as we do any other event - the staff are expected to record it under the category that it would have been if an injury had been suffered (e.g. if a car narrowly misses someone in our car-park, it would still be recorded as 'injury caused by moving vehicle'). They can record the suitable level of information on the form so it can be drawn out that it was a near miss. Staff know to do a level of investigation/reporting that is appropriate to the event in question. All I do otherwise is continually promote the need (via meetings, newsletters, etc) to report near misses in that way.