POLICE FOUNDATION
Advancing Policing Through Innovation and Science
LEO NEAR MISS
Lessons Learned become Lessons Applied
The Police Foundation is excited to
announce the new LEO Near Miss
system developed with support from
the COPS Office. This system will
allow law enforcement personnel
to share “close calls” in order to
help their peers stay safe and
prevent tragedies.
Our mission is to encourage law
enforcement personnel to share
their stories and lessons learned
in near miss incidents in order to
shield other law enforcement
personnel from accidents, injuries,
and fatalities, as well as to prevent
other community crises from
occurring.
Report or search near misses at:
www.LEOnearmiss.org
“A near miss, like any error,
is an opportunity to examine
how mistakes are made and
what changes might prevent
them”
– Danielle Ofri, MD, PhD, NYU
(NYT, May 28, 2013)
WHAT IS A NEAR MISS?
A near miss is a close call and/or unsafe occurrence that could have resulted in a
serious injury, fatality, significant property damage, and/or a crisis, if not for a fortunate
break in the chain of events and from which other law enforcement personnel could benefit
and learn from the experience.
WHO USES NEAR MISS REPORTING SYSTEMS?
Near miss reporting systems are common in other high-risk industries. Systems exist
in aviation, fire services, health care and medicine, the military, mining, and nuclear power plant
operations. According to safety pioneer Herbert William Heinrich, for every 300 near misses,
there are about 29 minor injury cases and 1 major injury case. Some have expanded that to
show that for every work-related fatality, there are 3,000 near misses. These studies show that
we can learn a substantial amount from near misses that can help prevent tragedies.
WHY IS THE COLLECTION OF NEAR MISS DATA USEFUL IN
PREVENTING FUTURE HARM?
Simply put, there are significantly more near misses than there are major incidents/fatalities
(as shown below). There is currently not enough data to know the ratio of major incidents to
near misses in law enforcement. But it is clear in industries where data has been collected
that for every major incident, injury or fatality, there are hundreds of near misses that could be
analyzed and used in training or prevention.
In an analysis of 75,000 industrial accidents, Heinrich
(1931) found that for every 300 accidents, only 30
resulted in injuries (29 of which were minor).
1
Major Injury
29
Minor Injuries
300
Incidents (near miss)
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An analysis of 1,753,498 accidents reported by 297
companies in 21 industries demonstrated the
following ratio of near misses to injuries. (Bird, 1992)
1
Major Injury
10
Minor Injuries
30
Equipment Damage
600
Near Miss Incidents
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POLICE FOUNDATION
Advancing Policing Through Innovation and Science
WHY ARE REPORTING SYSTEMS IMPORTANT TO LAW ENFORCMENT?
Near miss systems are designed to promote learning in organizations, enhancing the health and safety, both of its employees
and of the public. The Police Foundation worked with a number of law enforcement agencies and other partners to develop this system for
law enforcement that encourages the reporting of near misses or small errors as a vehicle for education and change rather than accusation
and discipline.
HOW CAN YOUR NEAR MISS HELP OTHER LAW ENFORCEMENT PERSONNEL?
If you share an incident in which you escaped a serious injury or accident or otherwise averted a more serious incident, what
you learned can save a life and/or help others. As we have learned in aviation, medicine, and other industries, sharing these incidents in a
voluntary and anonymous manner makes a big difference in the lives of your peers.
LEARN MORE ABOUT NEAR MISS REPORTING SYSTEMS:
Go to www.policefoundation.org/LEOnearmiss
or contact us at leonearmiss@policefoundation.org
near miss
Voluntary and Anonymous Reporting System
The Police Foundation is an independent non-profit, non-partisan institution based in Washington, D.C.
that has been advancing policing through innovation and science for nearly half a century, and works to
translate those findings to practice through technical assistance, training, and dissemination.
This project was supported by Grant Number 2014-CK-WX-0022 awarded by the Office of Community
Oriented Policing Services, U.S. Department of Justice. Points of view or opinions expressed in this
document or the system itself are those of the participants (many law enforcement personnel, scientists,
and other practitioners) and/or the participating agencies themselves and do not represent the official
position or policies of the United States Department of Justice or the Police Foundation, nor the
International Association of Fire Chiefs whose existing system (developed by AlphaTrac®) was used as
the platform LEOnearmiss.org. References to specific agencies, companies, products, or services
should not be considered an endorsement by the U.S. Department of Justice or the Police Foundation.
www.policefoundation.org | 202.833.1460 |
Report or search near misses at:
www.LEOnearmiss.org
follow us on Twitter @PoliceFound