Near miss reporting
A near miss is an event that could have caused injury or damage but didn’t, such as a scaffold board falling into an empty walkway. Most near misses are not reportable to the HSE, but recording them is one of the cheapest ways to prevent the next accident. The exception is a dangerous occurrence listed in RIDDOR, such as a crane collapse, which must be reported even if no one is hurt.
Examples on site
| Event | Report to HSE? |
|---|---|
| Tool dropped from a scaffold lands near a worker | No, record internally |
| Excavator bucket strikes an unmarked cable without injury | Yes, if it causes an electrical short circuit or overload with fire or explosion; otherwise record internally |
| Collapse or overturning of a crane or mobile elevating work platform | Yes, dangerous occurrence |
| Collapse of all or part of a scaffold over 5 m high | Yes, dangerous occurrence |
| Worker slips on a wet stair but catches the handrail | No, record internally |
The full list of dangerous occurrences is in Schedule 2 of RIDDOR 2013. If in doubt, check the HSE’s RIDDOR pages.
What to record
- Date, time and exact location
- What happened, in plain words
- What could have happened (the worst realistic outcome)
- Immediate action taken, such as making the area safe
- Cause, and what will stop it happening again, with an owner and a date
- Name of the person reporting (optional if your system allows anonymous reports)
Make reporting easy
- Explain at induction that near misses should be reported and that nobody is blamed for reporting.
- Keep the form short: a phone photo and three questions are enough.
- Feed back what changed, for example in the next toolbox talk.
- Update the RAMS when a near miss shows a gap in the controls.
Close the loop in your RAMS. Every RAMS Maker document tells the team to report near misses to the supervisor, and with Pro your RAMS are saved in a library, so you can copy and update one when a report shows a new hazard.
Make RAMS Toolbox talksQuestions
Is near miss reporting a legal requirement?
Only dangerous occurrences under RIDDOR must be reported to the HSE. But employers must have arrangements to monitor and review their health and safety measures (Management Regulations 1999, regulation 5), and recording near misses is a normal part of that.
What is the difference between a near miss and an incident?
An incident is any unplanned event; it may cause injury, damage or nothing. A near miss is an incident where nothing was harmed but it could have been.
Who should investigate a near miss?
The supervisor or site manager, involving the people who were there. Serious near misses deserve the same investigation as an accident.
Checked against HSE guidance on RIDDOR 2013 (Schedule 2) and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, November 2026. Related: dynamic risk assessment.