A near miss incident is an indication that an accident was likely to occur given a slight shift in time or distance (King, 1990). When a near miss happens, as a EH&S officer, the first action is to survey the area where the incidence has occurred and make it out of bound for all workers. Since there is a claim of imminent danger situation, all other activities should stop and the greatest concern should be determining the cause of the incident and what damages did it cause. Only workers with written permission should be allowed into the place.
The exact number of workers who were at the near miss incident should be determined first of all. This will assist in determining the exact number of injured workers from the near miss. Some workers might be psychologically affected by the incidents and be in a state of shock, therefore, by determining the exact number of workers, it will assist in the post incidence occurrence treatment. The other critical information that should be determined is the probable cause of the near miss. This can be done through checking the competence of the crane driver. Under competence, check on the qualification of the driver, the age, the time the driver had worked that day, what were the minimum and maximum load that the crane was supposed to carry and the exact load it was carrying that time of near miss. The state of the workplace should also be determined find out whether the possible hazards were eliminated (McKinnon, 2012).
The EH&S should determine whether the safe systems of work were applied during the work. This is to find out whether the standard procedures of work were followed and the safety rules were adhered to according to the OSHA standards. Since the crane was hoisting, a permit to work should have been in place for working at heights hence find out whether there was one which was duly signed. The last workplace inspection and audits reports should be made available to check the last recommendation of the workplace and the cranes (McKinnon, 2012).
All the supervisors and engineers should be made aware of the near miss incident. They should prepare the inspection and audit reports for their departments in time since the matter will require an urgent meeting from all departments, engineers, supervisor and managers to discuss ways of eliminating other incidents or accidents from occurring (Wells, 1997). They should be alerted to ensure that all safe systems of work are followed at their workplaces. The facility manager should be immediately informed of the incidence and the exact facts about the incident availed. Since at the beginning, no facts have been verified, the manager can be given probable reasons to why the near miss happened and the exact damage that occurred which includes the number of the injured workers. After the investigation has been carried out about the incident, a report should be written which all managers including the facility manager should have a copy.
An urgent meeting with the hourly workers should be called to discuss the incident that has occurred. Since they are the people on site, they have valuable information that cannot be ignored in determining the cause of the incident. They should be free to voice their views and give the probable reasons that led to the incident. Since one of the workers had called the OSHA and reported the incident, it means that they have been aware of the danger that was in the workplace before (Wells, 1997). They should be asked to share any information freely with the management and work as a team to solve issues before calling the OSHA department. The OSHA inspector should be given all the facts concerning the situation without hiding any information since this is against the law. He should be allowed to meet the workers also in case he or she wants to meet them. The company should be willing and ready to adhere to the recommendation from the OSHA department.
References
King, R. W. (1990). Safety in the process industries. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemaan.
McKinnon, R. C. (2012). Safety Management: Near Miss Identification, Recognition, and Investigation. New York: Taylor & Francis Group.
Wells, G. (1997). Major Hazards & Their Management. Warwickshire: Institution of Chemical Engineers.
