【Safety Article】03 Thoughts on Implementing Near-Miss Incident Management in Enterprises

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Thoughts on Implementing Near-Miss Incident Management in Enterprises Abstract At present, many people still have a vague understanding of the concept of near-miss incidents, and there is a tendency to seek quick results in the management of such incidents. Near-miss management is part of the construction of a safety culture. This paper mainly introduces the basic conditions and methods for conducting near-miss management. Keywords: enterprises, near-miss accident management, reflection; the introduction of the concept of near-miss accidents to China is a development that has taken place in recent years. In managing near-misses in actual work, it has been found that accurately grasping and understanding near-misses is not an easy task. Recently, the author has reviewed a large amount of literature and, applying the theoretical concepts of risk management and after careful consideration, described near-misses as follows: In a production system, all unsafe factors, even when they do not directly or indirectly cause an accident, can serve as one of the conditions that lead to an accident. If such factors interact with one or more other unsafe factors and certain conditions are met, an industrial safety accident will inevitably occur. Various unsafe factors present before an accident occurs are called conditions for an attempted accident, and the accident that could occur under such conditions is known as an attempted accident. The accidents that may result from the same attempted accident conditions can vary depending on other conditions. In managing past accidents, we talk about the principles of \"not letting things go unchecked\" and \"learning from such incidents to prevent similar ones from happening\", but these are merely measures taken after the fact, representing a passive approach to safety management. The management of near-misses is a left-side management approach; it is a proactive and preventive safety management model. Carry out management of near-misses, with the ultimate goal of achieving a zero-accident management objective. Regarding the management of near-misses, many experts have offered valuable insights. Here, based on my many years of experience in safety work, I would like to share my views on how to implement near-miss management in enterprises. I. To implement near-miss accident management, it is first necessary to have a strong safety culture. Even in developed countries and regions with advanced safety management practices, there are still many uncertainties and misunderstandings regarding the management of near-miss accidents. In some of our ** companies, although the management of near-misses has been promoted, people treat routine safety inspections as near-misses, simply giving another name to the problems identified during those inspections. Incident prevention management is a systematic endeavor that cannot be achieved overnight; it should be carried out step by step to foster a strong safety culture. A safety culture is the sum of safety production values and safety behavior guidelines. To create a positive safety environment, it is first necessary for our company leaders and safety managers to understand and be familiar with **the laws, regulations, standards related to safety, as well as local safety rules and provisions**, and to have knowledge of safety aspects related to processes, materials, equipment, and tools. If the company’s managers and safety officers are not familiar with the relevant safety knowledge, then emphasizing safety will merely be an empty phrase used in meetings; it serves only to urge subordinates to pay attention to safety, but not the managers themselves. If subordinates also tell their subordinates to focus on safety in this way, then the notion of emphasizing safety will truly become nothing but empty words. Because the employees who actually carry out the production activities – the company’s workforce – have not learned from their superiors what constitutes dangerous behavior and what is safe. They rely solely on their own experience and habits to determine whether something is dangerous or safe. Therefore, when company managers say the words “safety first” in meetings, it’s like blowing on glass with their mouth – leaving no trace and having no real effect. A positive safety culture should exist throughout the company, with everyone emphasizing safety, understanding it, adhering to safety regulations, following safety procedures, caring about their own safety, and also caring about the safety of others. II. To manage near-misses, a scientific approach to work is necessary. The chemical industry in the United States implements near-miss management through seven steps: identification, reporting, prioritization and information dissemination, cause analysis, determination of solutions, communication, and resolution of the issues. A careful analysis of these 7 steps shows that they are actually similar to the risk management procedures in the current HSE safety management system. In other words, risk management within the HSE safety management system is essentially incident prevention management, and incident prevention management reflects to a greater extent the active participation of employees in managing hazardous factors. There are many evaluation methods used for risk management, and each method has its own unique advantages. Currently, the two methods commonly used in general enterprises are Job Hazard Analysis and Safety Checklist Analysis. The Job Hazard Analysis method focuses on analyzing the risks arising from various operational activities, while the Safety Checklist Analysis method focuses on analyzing the risks associated with equipment and facilities. According to the definition of a near-miss accident mentioned earlier, such a risk can be understood as a near-miss accident. By systematically conducting risk analyses, we can discover that many things we normally consider perfectly normal actually constitute near-misses. Therefore, we must vigorously promote risk analysis activities within enterprises, as risk management is one of the key components of a safety culture. Risk management must be carried out in a step-by-step manner, so that it becomes the main approach to our daily safety management, and managers at all levels should be trained to master risk analysis methods proficiently. It is particularly important to encourage frontline employees to actively participate in daily risk management efforts. Only when these operators master risk analysis methods can they promptly identify unexpected near-miss incidents and take reliable safety measures. This helps prevent such incidents from combining with other near-misses, ultimately leading to actual accidents. Regularly organize various types of managers and frontline operators to conduct risk analyses. This not only helps employees become proficient in risk analysis methods, but also fosters their awareness of participating in near-miss incident management. With the active participation of all employees in managing near-miss incidents, a safety culture is essentially established. III. Issues to be noted in managing near-misses 1. Accidents occur randomly and unpredictably; therefore, when managing near-misses, one must not be intermittent in their efforts but should maintain consistency, combining regular and irregular checks. Only by persisting in ongoing near-miss management can various types of accidents be prevented. 2. Managers at all levels and operators should be trained to master risk analysis methods proficiently. At the beginning of organizing risk analysis efforts, people generally find the process too cumbersome and complicated. In reality, this perception is quite one-sided; it stems from a lack of familiarity with risk analysis. If risk analysis is conducted over a period of time, the level and efficiency of each analysis will **improve**. 3. When managing near-misses, another issue that is difficult to determine is the level of risk associated with those near-misses; it is believed that near-misses with a high risk level should be given priority in terms of control. The issue of the level of risk is not something that ordinary people can truly grasp accurately. In daily production operations, there are occasional near-misses involving the wrong valve being opened; sometimes this leads to simple incidents of material mixing, but on June 27, 1997, an incident at a chemical plant involving the wrong valve being opened resulted in a rather serious accident. The author believes that the near-misses that need to be controlled first are those that could potentially turn into actual accidents at any time if no measures are taken promptly, and it is not necessarily those near-misses that could lead to major accidents. IV. Conclusion In many companies, managers at all levels have more or less misunderstandings regarding basic concepts such as “safety” and “accidents.” When determining whether something is safe or dangerous, they often rely on whether an accident could occur with that thing, failing to consider it within the overall production system. Under such circumstances, it is still somewhat difficult for companies in our country to implement near-miss accident management in a genuine and thorough manner, rather than just going through the motions as a formality. Near-miss accident management is one of the core elements of safety culture development, falling within the theoretical framework of safety culture at a deeper level; therefore, creating a positive safety culture atmosphere is key to effective near-miss accident management. References: Zhang Haifeng. Safety, Health and Environment (Volume 7, Issue 7). Qingdao: Qingdao Xingqiu Printing Co., Ltd., 2007. Author’s profile: Xu Ruogu graduated in 1988 from Guangdong Petrochemical College with a degree in petroleum refining; he worked on catalyst development at the R&D institute of Qilu Petrochemical Company, and has been engaged in work related to safe production management since 1999. **Registered Safety Engineer. First-level safety standardization assessor.