Understanding and using near-misses properties through a double-step conceptual structure

Though in literature there has been an extensive demonstration of the strict relationship between the frequency of occurrence of near-misses and the number of major accidents, there is a clear evidence in the industrial practice of a lack of a common accepted definition and denotation of a near-miss and the absence of an explicit model for assessing their main properties and how to turn into knowledge the information gathered thereby. The paper tries to fill this gap by providing a denotation and classification model of near-misses which can be easily adopted in the managerial practice. The structure is composed of a model based on the set theory which enables to denote the different categories (error, incident, operational interruption, accident and near-miss), and a classification algorithm to properly define each category. This double-step structure helps in understanding of how to use the power of near-misses properties in order to implement a company-wide improvement program.