What is a near-miss?

• A. A minor hazard that was avoided
• B. An incident that caused harm
• C. An incident that could have caused harm but did not
• D. An incident that did not require reporting

Answer: (C)

A near-miss is an event where harm could have happened but didn’t. It shows that a risky situation almost led to an injury or damage, and it often points to weaknesses in safety cues, equipment, or procedures that we can fix. Even though no one was hurt, the potential impact was real, so reporting and reviewing near-misses helps prevent actual injuries in the future.

This differs from an incident that caused harm, which is an actual injury or damage occurred. It’s also not just a hazard that was avoided—the key idea is that something happened with the potential for harm, and we use that information to improve safety.