Posted By thomas20 I am a sponsored student at Brighton University currently working for Wates Construction. I am currently doing my dissertation on Near Misses on Construction Sites. Quite a simple question for now - is there any specific legislation regarding near misses or any legislation that would link to this? i am struggling to find anything relevant. Any help would be appreciated. Tom Cosgrove.

Posted By Raymond Rapp Tom There is no explicit legislation covering the reporting or investigation of near misses, or accidents for that matter, except where it is covered via a Safety Case (eg nuclear, railways etc) and RIDDOR. It could be argued that it is implied in certain legislation, such as MHSWR reg5. Ray

Posted By A Campbell Tom, First place to look would be RIDDOR 95... under dangerous occurrences reportable as they would likely to interact with the definition of a 'near miss'. Hated that word... an old employer renamed it as a near hit!

Posted By Bob Youel social security law has some good points re accident reporting but again its not specifically for near misses

Posted By Richard Altoft lets be careful here, HSG 65 includes property damage in definition of accident and in definition of hazard. Hence a dangerous occurrence is an accident because of the property damage and is not therefore a near miss. HASWA implies and more specifically MHSW calls for monitoring and by implication for learning from past accidents as part of doing what is SFARP necessary to assess risk and control risks but not specifically for near misses to be reported. To my mind however a near miss is a reason to reassess risk under MHSW reg 3 (3) (a) and ACOP item 26 (a) which cites MHSW reg 5 and its call for monitoring and actually mentions near misses Hope that helps R

Posted By Rodger Alan Ker It seems somewhat strange that presumably after tendering and quoting for a contract that involved the role of Principal Contractor you now want to delegate that role and responsibility?

Posted By Tabs Hi, some have concentrated on reporting, but your question seemed a little more general. Near misses are clear indicators that section 2 of the health and safety at work etc act 1974 has been breached. Possibly section 3 too. The act does not name a near miss as something covered by section 2 but as the requirement to keep employees and others from risk. There are then a wealth of other regulations which use the same inference: LOLER; PUWER; COSHH; Management Regs; Radiation Regs; Lead; Asbestos;; etc., etc., Perhaps thinking of a near miss as an indicator, rather than just an event, opens up your discussion as to the value and the links to a multitude of legislation of a near miss.

Posted By Colin Reeves I totally agree with the posters who advise that employers need to take into account near misses and, where needed, amend working practices etc. However, and I think this may be where the thread started, for the employer to become aware of near misses requires the employees etc to report them. This is an area I keep banging on about at safety committees etc and, generally, not too bad a response. However, there is little legal sanction against those who do not report near misses. As far as I know nothing in law apart from HASWA Sec 7(a) which requires that emplotyees "take reasonable care" which could be so construed. Colin