Rank: Forum user 
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Hi all, I need some some clarification.
We have accidents, near miss and safety observations.
whats the difference between a safety observation and a near miss ?
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Hi SPR,
My understanding:
near miss - almost an accident, something actually happened that could have caused harm or damage but didn't
safety observation - otherwise known as an unsafe condition, precursor to near miss or accident.
Hope it helps,
S
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Post #2 has it spot on, but you may also want to consider including unsafe acts such as violations as potential safety observations.
E.g its not unusual for some of our employees to happily report contractors for obvious unsafe working.
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Rank: Super forum user
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“My understanding:
Near miss - almost an accident, something actually happened that could have caused harm or damage but didn't
Safety observation - otherwise known as an unsafe condition, precursor to near miss or accident.”
That is a good working definition for your organisation but remember that there is no official definition of a near miss or safety observation. There is nothing in legislation, official guidance or standards, that defines these terms. Ultimately it is simply a matter of semantics. The important thing is that you create a mechanism for employees to inform a management of something that is not working as it should be; that there are gaps in the way Health and Safety is managed. And that you are committed to closing the gaps.
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Rank: Super forum user 
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It's your system so therefore the difference is whatever you want it to be
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Rank: Super forum user 
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PL53 wrote:It's your system so therefore the difference is whatever you want it to be Agree or put them together. Its what suits your workplace. My previous place of work had accidents, incidents and near misses, where the incidents were situations that occurred that didn't cause injury or damage but had the potential to do so, the near misses becoming more like to observations
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Rank: Super forum user
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"Safety Observations" can also be the act of just observing a task as a small part in the Behavioural process - either being carried out safely or unsafely at the time of the observation. (That is what the Organisations I deal with call them)
As PL53 - Up to you what you want it to be
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Rank: Super forum user
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Safety observations generally are part of the an organisations behavioural safety process and in theory can include near misses if the near miss was "observed" in real time that resulted from a persons behaviour.
In our case, the person observing such a near miss could record it as a Behaviour based safety observation. Most behaviour based safety systems are anonymous in context of the observee and do not automatically trigger formal investigations. However, if the near miss was significant enough, in our case, it would also be reported formally via our incident reporting system and a proportionate investigation would follow. For the safety observation, it would have been a safety feedback between the observer and the observee regarding the near miss and recorded as an "at risk" behaviour in our Behaviour based safety observation recording system.
In a nutshell, it depends upon the specifics & details of your own internal system you use
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Rank: Super forum user 
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In my experience "Safety observation" does what it says on the tin - an observation of the safe / unsafe behaviour and actions of the worker. In a well run scheme, the vast majority of such observations should be positive. So YES, IMHO, there is a massive difference between a Safety Observation and a Near Miss.
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Rank: Super forum user
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SNS wrote:Hi SPR,
My understanding:
near miss - almost an accident, something actually happened that could have caused harm or damage but didn't
safety observation - otherwise known as an unsafe condition, precursor to near miss or accident.
Hope it helps,
S In other words a safety observation is a true Near Miss :-)
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