What is the purpose of a near-miss reporting system?

• A. To classify near-misses for regulatory compliance only.
• B. To capture near-misses of errors before harm occurs and use data to prevent future incidents.
• C. To punish staff for any errors.
• D. To delay reporting until harm occurs.

Answer: (B)

Near-miss reporting is about capturing events that almost caused harm so you can learn from them and prevent real incidents. When near-misses are documented, you gather data on where weaknesses in people, processes, or systems exist. Analyzing these events reveals root causes and patterns, guiding actions like workflow changes, targeted training, or design improvements that stop harm before it happens. The goal is proactive safety improvement and a blame-free culture that shares lessons openly. It isn’t primarily about regulatory compliance, it isn’t about punishing staff, and it shouldn’t wait for harm to occur.