Evaluating the Use of a Near-Miss Reporting Program to Enhance Employee Safety Performance
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Summary
This study addresses the limitations of reactive safety management in the construction industry, specifically focusing on the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s (KYTC) struggle to encourage employee reporting of near-miss events. While near-miss reporting serves as a critical leading indicator for preventing injuries and fatalities, many agencies fail to achieve high participation rates. The research aims to identify barriers to reporting, evaluate existing programs at other state Departments of Transportation (DOTs), and propose strategies to enhance KYTC’s Safety Opportunity Reporting tool. The methodology comprised three primary components. First, researchers conducted a comparative analysis of near-miss programs at seven state DOTs considered leaders in occupational safety, including California, Florida, and Texas, to identify best practices. Second, they documented KYTC’s current near-miss reporting procedures by reviewing agency manuals and consulting with administration and safety personnel. Third, a survey was administered via Qualtrics to 73 KYTC maintenance superintendents to assess their perceptions, knowledge, and experiences with the existing program. The survey covered demographics, understanding of near-miss definitions, awareness of reporting tools, and specific barriers preventing participation. The findings revealed that most state DOTs lack publicly accessible near-miss reporting tools, though leaders like Florida and Tennessee utilize online forms to facilitate reporting. For KYTC, the survey identified four primary barriers to near-miss reporting: concerns regarding confidentiality and fear of retaliation, uncertainty about the definition of a near miss, a perceived lack of corrective actions following reports, and minimal sharing of lessons learned. Respondents indicated that while they understood the importance of reporting, they often felt the process was complex or that their input did not result in visible safety improvements. The literature review further highlighted that management engagement and visible corrective actions are critical for overcoming these barriers. Based on these results, the authors recommend that KYTC adopt a formal Safety Opportunity Reporting Framework to improve executive communication and transparency. They propose using dual definitions for near misses—a technical definition for formal reporting and an informal one for daily coaching—to reduce ambiguity. Additionally, the study suggests making the web-based reporting tool more accessible and ensuring that management takes visible corrective actions to demonstrate the value of reporting. The researchers also developed a macro-based Excel evaluation tool to help KYTC track and measure the program’s success. These recommendations aim to shift KYTC’s safety culture from reactive incident management to proactive hazard identification, ultimately reducing injury rates through improved employee engagement and data-driven safety interventions.
Key finding
Barriers to near-miss reporting primarily stem from management-level issues, including lack of visible corrective actions and insufficient training, rather than employee unwillingness alone.
Methodology
mixed_methods
Sample size: 73
Provenance
The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed. Discovered via bulk_ingest_rosap on 2026-05-23 (6 acquisition events logged).
| Stage | Outcome | Tool | Model | Prompt | Attempts | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| discover | success | rosap | — | — | 2 | 2026-05-23 |
| archive | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| extract | success | cached | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
| clean | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-01 |
| chunk | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-01 |
| embed | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-02 |
| enrich | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| promote | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| summarize | success | llm | qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant | summ-v5 | 3 | 2026-06-10 |
| tag | success | vector_similarity | — | — | 24 | 2026-06-11 |
| verify | success | — | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.
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- Empirical Findings: crash risk outcomes