An Incident is an unplanned event. This includes accidents, injuries, equipment/vehicle damage, impact to the property of others (i.e. other companies, the public), and Near Hits. I know the popular safety term is Near Miss. Outside of the safety professional, what does this even mean?

If you were driving home from work and almost were in an intersection collision, do you say to your family, “I had a Near Miss today?” No, you say “I almost was hit today.” Staring using words that make it very clear to everyone what you are speaking about.

There are plenty of studies and data to show that the sooner an incident is reported and investigated, the more likely it is to obtain the facts and manage the event to the lowest possible financial impact. A lag in reporting of 7 days has been proven to cost companies 20%+ more than those investigated and reported within 1 day.

More importantly, the most valuable element of an incident occurring is to learn from it. The longer the delay in reporting the less likely it is to obtain the facts and learn from it.

But how do you motivate your employees to report all incidents, immediately? This will not occur overnight. Thus, here are the key phases to attaining world class Lessons Learned:

• Explain why it is so important to report all incidents, no matter how minor they can seem
• Build Trust with all team members
• Focus immediate response on Care for the injured and those impacted by the event
• Teach employees and leaders on a simple method to obtain all the facts
• Listen to all people involved with the process, eyewitnesses, and leaders to determine the contributing factors that led to the incident.
• Collaborate with the team and subject matter experts to begin developing the Lesson Learned
• Share Draft Lesson Learned with the team and obtain feedback. Include valuable pictures to provide a visual and reduce verbiage
• Share Final Lesson Learned throughout the entire organization.

What should a Lesson Learned look like? It should include a brief description of what task(s) were being completed and what happened. The best practice is three sentences and two pictures. It should end with the right way to safely perform the task(s). Put the Lessons in a bullet list format and remember less is more, as less elements are easier to remember (remember the Power of Three from my prior blog). The purpose of a Lesson Learned is for others to understand what happened, why, and learn the right way to perform the task(s).

Leaders should deliver the Lesson Learned to the team in an interactive approach, encouraging participation, questions and clarifying their understanding. Leaders should ask a team member to summarize what they learned to help ensure knowledge is transferred.

It is vital to remove barriers to phase 2, Building Trust. In many cases this will require change in approach and your Safety Department may be part of the barrier. Below are some of the most common barriers to Trust:

• Fault Finding investigation approach. People feel this immediately.
• Punitive programs – monetary fines, penalties, forced sharing (public, safety committee)
• Immediate and even hasty disciplinary actions to bring investigations to conclusion fast
• Chastising people for mistakes leading to embarrassment and resentment
• Sharing what happened to others that don’t have a need to know

Your prior actions teach people what is most important to you. These negative actions drive incident reporting underground. Long term employees will tell the new employees to not report incidents or be very careful what you say, as THEY usually do something negative to you.

Your goal should be to have long-term employees tell new employees it is vital to report all incidents immediately as WE want to learn from it. We need their participation to learn. This will take time, patience, and consistency.

By educating the entire team you want and expect them to report all incidents, you will also begin receiving “Near Hits”. Eliminate “Near Miss Programs or games” to incentivize people to report. Near Hits are unplanned incidents that with a slight variation of a behavior(s) or person’s position, the result could have been life altering or ending. If you missed my blog on Highly Effective Recognition, please refer to it and align recognition to the behaviors you desire.

We have guided numerous organizations to changing their approach as described here and every time their Near Hit reporting increases 10 – 20x. Imagine sharing these valuable Lessons as part of your orientation, onboarding, and ongoing education efforts.

• Report all incidents immediately to your supervisor
• Actively participate in the investigation and development of the Lesson Learned

Change your approach to investigation. Make the focus clear, we want to learn from every incident
Implement the Eight Phases. Each phase is vital.
Stay Consistent. With your process, corrective actions taken. Treat others with respect.

Next Week, We Will Explore:

Psychological Safety

1. Discover what is Psychological Safety
2. Explore why it is so important and elusive in even very good safety cultures
3. Learn how to build Psychological Safety

In 1995, my wife and I packed up and moved west in pursuit of opportunity and the dream of building a future for our family. Today, 29 years later, our twins—our greatest pride—are beginning their own journeys at rival colleges in Arizona. They are my “Why,” the driving force behind everything I do, including my passion for workplace safety and accountability.

Over the past 30 years, I’ve worked across multiple industries as a Certified Safety Professional (CSP), leading efforts to create safer, more accountable work environments. From commercial insurance companies to some of the largest construction firms in the country, I’ve seen how accountability—or the lack of it—can make or break an organization. In 2012, my partners and I founded a safety consulting firm, built from scratch, with a shared mission to improve workplace safety.

Through it all, one thing has remained clear: a culture of accountability is the bedrock of highly successful businesses. But it’s not just about policies and procedures—it’s about engaging and empowering people to take ownership of their work and safety. It’s about showing that you genuinely care about your people. In this blog series, I’ll explore how leaders can foster this culture and, in turn, create engaged, safer, and more resilient organizations.

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