Safety Meeting Toolbox Topics and Tailgate Talks
What is a “near miss?” Webster defines it as: “A result that is nearly, but not quite, successful.” What does this mean to industry? It simply means that a serious accident almost occurred. Someone trips over a pallet, but doesn’t fall. Two forklifts almost collide at a corner. A tool is dropped, but toes are missed…this time.
Most large US companies operate at a small profit margin--some as small as 1/2%. This means they earn only 1/2 cent for every dollar taken in. Profit margins of 1% to 5% are more common but this is still not a lot of “extra” money. Each time an accident occurs, the cost of the injury must be subtracted from profits.
The data from the Bureau of Labor statistics show us that tractors were the most common source of fatalities and overturns were the most common cause of death, for all work-related deaths in the agricultural production industry 2003-2007.
The most important reason that we ask you to report all injuries is to allow us to arrange for prompt medical treatment - not to blame someone for causing an accident. Proper medical care is important to reduce the possibility of a minor injury becoming worse. Most of you probably know someone who developed a serious infection from a minor wound or cut that was ignored until it became swollen, red and painful.
Unlike television, real accidents can cause suffering so real and vivid that those persons involved or witnessing rarely forget the flow of blood, broken limbs, crushed bodies, or screams of pain. An accident without injury though is more like the bloodless, painless Hollywood version and therefore easy to forget. In 1931, H.W. Heinrich theorized that for every major accident there are 29 minor accidents and 300 near misses.