HSE's guide to investigating accidents and incidents (HSG245) sorts unwanted events into three kinds:
HSE calls all three adverse events (anything unwanted that happens, or could happen, at work). Other terms used here are in our glossary.
The difference between a near miss and an undesired circumstance is that something actually happened. A blocked walkway is an undesired circumstance. Someone stepping into the vehicle lane to get round it, and a lorry braking, is a near miss. Both are worth reporting.
They are free lessons. HSG245 points out that investigating a near miss is "as useful, and very much easier than investigating accidents". Nobody is injured, nobody is defending a claim, and people are more willing to say what really happened.
The causes are usually the same. The forklift that missed someone today and the forklift that hits someone next month often share a blind corner, a missing barrier or a rushed shift. HSE uses two well-known disasters to make the point: the Clapham Junction rail crash and the Herald of Free Enterprise ferry capsize, where "management had failed to recognise, and act on, previous failings in the system".
The worst outcome counts, not the actual one. HSE says the depth of an investigation should be set by "the potential consequences and the likelihood of the adverse event recurring", "not simply the injury or ill health suffered on this occasion". A near miss with a vehicle can deserve more attention than a minor cut.
A near miss is the only warning that arrives before the injury.
This matters most with vehicles. Being struck by a moving vehicle is a small share of reported injuries but one of the commonest causes of death at work, as our workplace transport statistics show. Vehicle near misses are the clearest early sign of that risk.
Usually not. RIDDOR (the law on which work events must be reported to HSE) only requires a near miss to be reported if it is on its list of dangerous occurrences (specific events that are reportable even when nobody is hurt).
For yards, warehouses and ports, the one that matters most is lifting equipment: if a forklift, telehandler or reach stacker overturns, or a load-bearing part such as the mast or forks fails, it must be reported even if nobody was hurt. A forklift that passes close to someone, or a lorry that stops just short, is not on the list.
If you are not sure, use our RIDDOR checker or the full dangerous occurrences list.
For a forklift near miss in particular, see what to do in the next 72 hours.
At 14:07, a lorry driver waiting for loading walked from his cab to the warehouse office by the shortest route, between two parked trailers. A yard shunter reversing a trailer into the next bay stopped about two metres from him. The shunter driver had not seen him until he stepped out.
There are ten more, each with its cause and fix, in our near-miss examples.
HSE's guide HSG245 defines a near miss as "an event that, while not causing harm, has the potential to cause injury or ill health". It is one kind of adverse event, alongside accidents (which cause injury or ill health) and undesired circumstances (conditions with the potential to cause harm).
An accident results in injury or ill health. A near miss could have, but did not. The causes are often the same, which is why HSE says the value of investigating each is the same.
A hazard is something with the potential to cause harm, such as a blind corner. A near miss is an event where that potential nearly turned into harm, such as a forklift and a person meeting at the blind corner. HSE calls an unsafe set of conditions, before anything happens, an undesired circumstance.
Most do not. Only the near misses listed as dangerous occurrences under RIDDOR must be reported, such as a forklift or other lifting equipment overturning. All near misses are still worth recording on site.
There is no specific legal requirement to record every near miss. But employers must plan, monitor and review their health and safety arrangements, and recording near misses is one of the simplest ways to show that is happening and to spot problems early.
It comes from Herbert Heinrich's 1931 book Industrial Accident Prevention, which suggested that for every serious injury there are many minor ones and many more no-injury events. Later researchers questioned whether a fixed ratio holds, especially for the most serious events. The lasting point is simpler: near misses and serious accidents can share causes, so the near misses are worth learning from.
Most near misses are never reported because nobody sees them. Do you know where yours happen? Safety Mapping: a free two-week trial on one camera.
By Hao Zheng, CEO at RoboK · Published 2 November 2026 · Last updated 2 November 2026