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Near-miss reporting among construction workers

Aulin, Radhlinah LU and Linderbäck, Emma (2014) Proc. CIB W099 Achieving Sustainable Construction Health and Safety p.456-466
Abstract
In 2012, there were 11 000 accidents and near-miss reported of which most of it can be prevented. Though reporting and investigating injuries present a more detailed picture, this is still a lagging indicator — measuring after the event. Recording and investigating near misses, on the other hand, can be used as a positive indicator of performance tool to fix problems before injuries occur. Employers are obligated to inform about near-miss to the workers so that they are aware what a near-miss is, how to report a near-miss and whom to report to. By definition, near-miss leaves no injuries, nor property or equipment damage. They also leave little (or no) evidence that they even occurred and as such, easy to ignore. As a result, workers have... (More)
In 2012, there were 11 000 accidents and near-miss reported of which most of it can be prevented. Though reporting and investigating injuries present a more detailed picture, this is still a lagging indicator — measuring after the event. Recording and investigating near misses, on the other hand, can be used as a positive indicator of performance tool to fix problems before injuries occur. Employers are obligated to inform about near-miss to the workers so that they are aware what a near-miss is, how to report a near-miss and whom to report to. By definition, near-miss leaves no injuries, nor property or equipment damage. They also leave little (or no) evidence that they even occurred and as such, easy to ignore. As a result, workers have no reason to believe reports will be viewed positively and acted on. This study aims to investigate how well informed construction workers are about near-miss reporting. Importantly, investigations will be performed to identify factors that influence workers' willingness to report near misses that they were exposed to or had observed. To achieve the aims, a deductive approach was adopted. Interviews were conducted with 37 construction workers from two districts, all within the same contractor's organisation. Although results indicated that majority of the interviewees are familiar with the definition of a near-miss and routines of reporting, the willingness to report near misses is still low. The study had also identified obstacles to reporting and proposed suggestions to address this issue. Results from this exploratory empirical investigation will be used as a basis for a more substantial empirical investigation (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
keywords
near miss, reporting system, resistance to reporting, construction, injuries
host publication
[Host publication title missing]
pages
10 pages
conference name
Proc. CIB W099 Achieving Sustainable Construction Health and Safety
conference location
Lund, Sweden
conference dates
2014-06-02
ISBN
978‐91‐7623‐005‐3
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
c0cbdc67-9a04-4697-ad8b-f87d6a7a24d9 (old id 4530403)
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 13:41:56
date last changed
2018-11-21 21:15:40
@inproceedings{c0cbdc67-9a04-4697-ad8b-f87d6a7a24d9,
  abstract     = {{In 2012, there were 11 000 accidents and near-miss reported of which most of it can be prevented. Though reporting and investigating injuries present a more detailed picture, this is still a lagging indicator — measuring after the event. Recording and investigating near misses, on the other hand, can be used as a positive indicator of performance tool to fix problems before injuries occur. Employers are obligated to inform about near-miss to the workers so that they are aware what a near-miss is, how to report a near-miss and whom to report to. By definition, near-miss leaves no injuries, nor property or equipment damage. They also leave little (or no) evidence that they even occurred and as such, easy to ignore. As a result, workers have no reason to believe reports will be viewed positively and acted on. This study aims to investigate how well informed construction workers are about near-miss reporting. Importantly, investigations will be performed to identify factors that influence workers' willingness to report near misses that they were exposed to or had observed. To achieve the aims, a deductive approach was adopted. Interviews were conducted with 37 construction workers from two districts, all within the same contractor's organisation. Although results indicated that majority of the interviewees are familiar with the definition of a near-miss and routines of reporting, the willingness to report near misses is still low. The study had also identified obstacles to reporting and proposed suggestions to address this issue. Results from this exploratory empirical investigation will be used as a basis for a more substantial empirical investigation}},
  author       = {{Aulin, Radhlinah and Linderbäck, Emma}},
  booktitle    = {{[Host publication title missing]}},
  isbn         = {{978‐91‐7623‐005‐3}},
  keywords     = {{near miss; reporting system; resistance to reporting; construction; injuries}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{456--466}},
  title        = {{Near-miss reporting among construction workers}},
  year         = {{2014}},
}