Concept: near miss reporting
A near miss reporting button for the shop floor: an idea we have not built
You know near misses happen on your shop floor, and you suspect you hear about only some of them. Reporting one means finding a paper form or walking to the office, so it waits until the end of the shift, or is not reported at all.
Last reviewed 2 October 2026.
The idea
A button where the work is
The idea is a physical button, or a small device, on the shop floor that would let a worker log a near miss in seconds, with the report reaching the health and safety manager. It would be separate from our visitor kiosk. Nothing is built and no hardware exists, so there is nothing here about how it would work: that is what your answers would decide.
What we want to hear
Four questions about your near misses
- How are near misses reported at your site today?
- How many are reported in a month?
- What stops people reporting one?
- Where on your shop floor would a button go?
If the honest answer is that a button would change nothing at your site, that is as useful to us as a yes.
What HSE says about near misses
Why the ones nobody reports matter
What a near miss is
near miss: an event that, while not causing harm, has the potential to cause injury or ill health. (In this guidance, the term near miss will be taken to include dangerous occurrences)
Why they are worth hearing about
Learning lessons from near misses can prevent costly accidents.
On investigating them
While the argument for investigating accidents is fairly clear, the need to investigate near misses and undesired circumstances may not be so obvious. However, investigating near misses and undesired circumstances is as useful, and very much easier than investigating accidents.
One of the workbook’s questions for an investigation
Were there adequate arrangements for reporting near-misses and undesired circumstances?
Quoted from HSE, Investigating accidents and incidents: a workbook for employers, unions, safety representatives and safety professionals (HSG245), published 2004 and free on hse.gov.uk, read on 2 October 2026. It is a workbook on investigating adverse events. It does not say how a near miss should be reported, and it does not mention a button or any other device. General information about published guidance, not health and safety advice.
Next step
Would your site use it?
Fifteen minutes on the phone, or an email. Tell us how a near miss gets reported at your site now and what gets in the way. There is nothing to sell you: we are deciding whether to build it.
Book a 15 minute callWould rather email? [email protected]
Or ring 0115 727 0698