How should a near-miss be documented and acted upon in silent task protocols?

• A. Record details and keep it confidential.
• B. Record details, analyze root cause, implement preventive measures, review with team.
• C. Ignore it unless someone was injured.
• D. Postpone recording until a formal audit.

Answer: (B)

Recording near-misses and acting on them is about turning close calls into improvements. The best approach is to capture what happened, analyze why it occurred (root cause), put preventive measures in place, and review the findings with the team. This sequence promotes learning, identifies underlying issues in the process, and strengthens the protocol so similar near-misses don’t happen again. Keeping details only to yourself misses opportunities for system-wide improvement and can allow underlying problems to persist. Ignoring near-misses or delaying documentation prevents timely corrective action, and waiting for a formal audit can let issues linger and recur.