2 Defining near-miss
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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 - 2 Defining near-miss

2 Defining near-miss

  2.1 Near-miss: A sequence of events and/or conditions that could have resulted in loss. This loss was prevented only by a fortuitous break in the chain of events and/or conditions. The potential loss could be human injury, environmental damage, or negative business impact (e.g., repair or replacement costs, scheduling delays, contract violations, loss of reputation).

  2.2 Some general examples of a near-miss help to illustrate this definition:

  • .1 Any event that leads to the implementation of an emergency procedure, plan or response and thus prevents a loss. For example, a collision is narrowly avoided; or a crew member double checks a valve and discovers a wrong pressure reading on the supply side.

  • .2 Any event where an unexpected condition could lead to an adverse consequence, but which does not occur. For example, a person moves from a location immediately before a crane unexpectedly drops a load of cargo there; or a ship finds itself off-course in normally shallow waters but does not ground because of an unusual high-spring tide.

  • .3 Any dangerous or hazardous situation or condition that is not discovered until after the danger has passed. For example, a vessel safely departs a port of call and discovers several hours into the voyage that the ship's radio was not tuned to the Harbour Master's radio frequency; or it is discovered that ECDIS display's scale does not match the scale, projection, or orientation of the chart and radar images.

Parent topic: Annex – Guidance on Near-Miss Reporting
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