Near Misses/Preventing Process Incidents

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Learning from incidents and near misses is paramount so an organization can make changes before similar circumstances occur again in the future. However, because there is no business interruption or loss in the form of injuries or property damage, near misses are largely ignored. The importance of capturing and learning from near misses, which provide immense opportunity for employee participation and cultural growth to prevent future incidents, is often not fully recognized by the organization. The Near Misses/Preventing Process Incidents session is intended to highlight the ability to prevent process incidents from lessons learned due to near misses. We invite papers to the Near Misses/Preventing Process Incidents session which address issues around preventing process incidents, including the lessons learned from near misses, systems in place to drive improvements as an output from near misses, and methods of identifying and investigating near misses. Even though the human factor is commonly determined as an initiating event, a faulty process or system invariably contributes the hazard and should also be the focus of improvement for preventing process incidents.