Most safety programs are judged by one number: recordable incidents.
But by the time an incident is “recordable,” the damage is already done:
The future of warehouse safety — and sustainable productivity — isn’t about reacting to injuries.
It’s about predicting and preventing them.
That’s where near-miss tracking comes in.
Near misses are early warning signals.
If you learn from them, they’re free lessons.
If you ignore them, they become tomorrow’s injuries.
A near miss is an event where:
Examples:
In most facilities, these events are:
That’s a missed opportunity.
Traditionally, safety performance is tracked through:
These are important — but they’re lagging indicators. They tell you:
“The problem already hit us.”
Near-miss tracking shifts the focus to leading indicators:
Facilities that track near misses consistently:
In high-velocity operations, that’s a competitive advantage — not just a compliance checkbox.
Near-miss tracking isn’t just about injury prevention. It directly affects:
When people feel safe:
Safety isn’t “extra.”
Safety is how performance becomes sustainable.
Most facilities underutilize near-miss reporting for three reasons:
Associates don’t want to “snitch” or get in trouble.
Solution:
Make it clear that near-miss reporting is:
protected
encouraged
never used for punishment when reported in good faith
Reward reporting — don’t punish honesty.
If people don’t know how or when to report, they won’t.
Solution:
Create a simple path:
The process must be fast, simple, and widely understood.
If people report hazards and nothing changes, they stop reporting.
Solution:
Close the loop:
When associates see action, reporting becomes part of the culture.
Here’s how high-performing DCs build near-miss programs that actually work.
Make sure everyone knows:
Keep the definition simple:
“Any time something unsafe happens or almost happens — and we got lucky.”
Use:
If it takes more than 60–90 seconds, it’s too complicated.
Don’t treat near misses as isolated events.
Ask:
You’re not counting events — you’re diagnosing patterns.
Instead of:
“Be more careful.”
Ask:
Near misses are often symptoms of process issues, not just “careless people.”
Fold near-miss analysis into:
That’s how safety stops being a separate silo and becomes part of performance management.
Managed labor teams — like FHI’s model — are uniquely positioned to support near-miss programs because they:
Instead of safety being “HR’s job” or “EHS’s job,” managed labor turns it into part of hourly operational leadership.
The result:
The future of warehouse safety isn’t about new posters or slogans.
It’s about treating near misses as gold, not noise.
When you:
…you move from:
“We hope nothing happens”
to
“We see risk before it becomes harm.”
Near-miss tracking is where safety, trust, and performance finally align.
Q1: What is a near miss in a warehouse?
A near miss is any unplanned event that could have caused injury or damage but didn’t — often due to luck or last-second intervention.
Q2: Why is tracking near misses so important?
Because they reveal hidden risks before they become incidents, allowing you to fix root causes early.
Q3: Won’t near-miss reporting slow down production?
Not if the process is simple. In fact, it prevents future downtime from accidents and rework.
Q4: How do we get associates to report near misses honestly?
Make it non-punitive, simple, and show visible action and appreciation when they report.
Q5: How does managed labor support near-miss programs?
Managed labor provides on-floor leadership and structure to capture, review, and act on near-miss data as part of daily operations.
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