3 Overcoming barriers to reporting near-misses
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Statutory Documents - IMO Publications and Documents - Circulars - Maritime Safety Committee-Marine Environment Protection Committee Circulars - MSC-MEPC.7 Circulars - MSC-MEPC.7/Circular.7 – Guidance on Near-Miss Reporting – (10 October 2008) - Annex – Guidance on Near-Miss Reporting - 3 Overcoming barriers to reporting near-misses

3 Overcoming barriers to reporting near-misses

  3.1 There are many barriers related to the reporting of near-misses. In many cases, near-misses are only known by the individual(s) involved who chose to report or not report the incident. Some of the main barriers to the reporting of near-misses include the fear of being blamed, disciplined, embarrassed, or found legally liable. These are more prevalent in an organization that has a blame-oriented culture. Amongst other barriers are unsupportive company management attitudes such as complacency about known deficiencies; insincerity about addressing safety issues and discouragement of the reporting of near-misses by demanding that seafarers conduct investigations in their own time.

  3.2 These barriers can be overcome by management initiatives such as:

  • .1 Encouraging a “just-culture” in the company which covers near-miss reporting.

  • .2 Assuring confidentiality for reporting near-misses, both through company policy and by “sanitizing” analyses and reports so that personal information (information identifying an individual) of persons associated with a near-miss is removed and remain confidential. Personal information should not be retained once the investigation and reporting processes are complete.

  • .3 Ensuring that investigations are adequately resourced.

  • .4 Following through on the near-miss report suggestions and recommendations. Once a decision has been made to implement, or not implement, the report's recommendations should be disseminated widely.

Parent topic: Annex – Guidance on Near-Miss Reporting
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