Pete Hypes
Near Misses
By
Aug 13, 2008 - 2:41:47 PM

I have just returned from Richmond on my day off, and saw two near misses on Interstate 95 and Rt. 1. Near miss or close call is a term that seems to be used more and more in the workplace, and in our everyday life. An unofficial definition of near miss could be something that happened, that could have been worse, but wasn’t. Today’s involved a tractor trailer that cut off a vehicle on the interstate, and a mini-van that nearly rear-ended a rental truck, who was stopped waiting to make a left-hand turn. Both of these events could have resulted in people being injured, and most definitely, property being damaged. The problem with the two events from today was that I doubt that any of the parties involved learned a single thing from the experience.

Near misses in the fire service could prove fatal if lessons are not learned by our entire organization. The old saying is, “If we do not learn from history, then history is bound to repeat itself.” On our shift, we talk about those things that did happen, what could have happened, and how we will prevent it in the future. Near misses allow the entire shift to talk about these things, in most cases.

We have seen accidents, where the first statement made was, someone has either been seriously injured or killed, only to find out that everyone walked away. The biggest reason that people survive motor vehicle collisions is that they were wearing their seatbelts, and stayed in the car. We have also gone to accidents where people were seriously injured because they were ejected from the vehicle.

One firefighter shared a story the other day where he was riding his motorcycle, and got distracted for a split second. When he looked forward, there was a vehicle stopped right in front of him. He had to slam on his brakes, and put his leg down, moving much faster than he wanted to be. He was not hurt, but was reminded how quickly an accident could have occurred. Accidents while riding a motorcycle are bad for the rider(s).

I shared this story a long time ago, but it fits this article. I had gone to West Virginia with my father-in-law to clean up and burn some brush at their place that we call “The Camp.” It was a hot summer day, and there was a little bit of a breeze. The brush pile had been there for a while, and had gotten very dry. I was about to light the pile off, but my father-in-law said, “You might want to get the hose out, in case it gets away from you.” I said, “There is plenty of distance between this pile and the trees that surrounded the property.” Picture with me if you will tall, mature, mountain pines. I lit the pile, which literally exploded when the fire hit it. Fire then burnt, fortunately without igniting, the fire side half of the closest pine tree. All I could imagine in that 2-3 minutes, that seemed to last forever, was that I had just started the fire that was going to burn the entire Monongahela National Forest. What a near miss!

The lesson of this article is that we must learn from our near misses, in order to prevent what could have happened from happening in the future. Near misses are an invaluable object lesson if we are willing to share them, and then discuss them. Swallow your pride and share with others. It may be the one thing that saves someone else’s life. 


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