The Near-Miss Problem: Why Utilities Collect Data but Crews Do Not Trust It
The Promise of Learning Before Someone Gets Hurt
Near-miss reporting is widely promoted as a cornerstone of modern safety management. In theory, it allows organizations to identify hazards, weak signals, and system failures before they result in injury or death. A near miss is a warning shot, an opportunity to learn without paying the highest price. Yet in many utilities, near-miss systems collect far less information than they could, not because incidents are rare, but because crews choose not to report them.
Why Silence Feels Safer Than Speaking Up
Linemen rarely avoid reporting near misses out of indifference. More often, the reluctance is grounded in experience. Crews have seen reports trigger investigations that feel punitive, overly formal, or disconnected from the reality of field work. Even when policies promise “no blame,” the fear of scrutiny lingers. Once an event is written down, context can be lost, and intent can be misinterpreted.
There is also a sense of futility. Many linemen have submitted reports only to see no visible change follow. When the lesson disappears into a database and nothing in the field improves, reporting begins to feel like a paperwork exercise rather than a safety tool.
The Gap Between Data Collection and Learning
Utilities increasingly rely on dashboards, metrics, and analytics to track safety performance. Near misses become data points, categorized and counted. What is often missing is the story. Without narrative, a near miss loses its meaning. Crews do not recognize themselves in spreadsheets, and learning fails to travel back to the field.
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