The Accident Pyramid – Feeling Lucky?

To often the interest in safety comes after a serious accident which is unfortunate. The key is to treat near misses as if they could have been serious.

Frank Bird, a US safety researcher, discovered that for every serious workplace accident there were 600 near misses. Bird’s findings are shown in the pyramid diagram below.

Accident Pyramid

It’s important to make near miss reporting part the safety culture. What is the ROI on accidents avoided?