Tracking minor and near-miss events and sharing lessons learned as a way to prevent accidents

Abstract

For biocontainment laboratories, nothing is more important than the safe conduct of work with infectious and toxic agents and materials. Accidents and incidents can have significant consequences for institutions-including lost or restricted workdays and other impacts on productivity; lost national or international prestige; damaged credibility with employees, regulators, and the community; and negative impacts on health and the environment. All accidents can be prevented, and the goal of any health and safety program should be a record of zero accidents from year to year. The traditional metrics used in accident prevention are Occupational Safety and Health Administration recordable accidents, which are effective at comparing total recordable case rates among similar organizations within a specific industry. However, these lagging metrics (reporting past events) are viewed as having weak predictive value for preventing accidents. Some industries, including construction and maritime, have demonstrated that tracking near-miss events and process failures to be a far more powerful predictive metric for the prevention of accidents.1-3 This article provides performance data from 2011 to 2014 and explains how the National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center uses tracking of near misses and process failures to prevent and reduce the severity of accidents.