Near-Miss Reports

Reporting safety incidents and near-misses allows our community to learn from the mistakes of others, and decreases the chance of similar incidents happening again. Regardless of whether an incident occurred or whether it was prevented in time, we encourage everyone to report incidents that they believe others can learn from.

If you had an incident where personal injury, damage to equipment or buildings, or use of a fire extinguisher has occurred, call 911 or Yale EHS emergency response at X5-3555 (203-785-3555) to report the incident if you haven’t done so already.

FAQs

Do I have to fill out a Near Miss Report?
You do not have to. However, we’d like to encourage people in our department to use the system to improve
overall safety.
 
Can I fill a Near Miss Report for another person?
You, you can file a report for other individuals if they permit and you observed the incident or obtained enough information about the incident.
 
Is Near Miss Report System anonymous?
The JST made the system completely anonymous for the purpose of encouraging students to submit their near misses without fear of any putative response. However, if you would like the JST to follow up on the incident, do so by adding your name and email to the end of the “What happened?” text box, and whether you would like to keep your name on the report as the author. We will remove your name from the report before it is published if you do not want to keep your name as an author.
 
Who can see the Near Miss Reports?
Everyone with a Yale NetID can access to the Near Miss Reporting system.
 
What should and shouldn’t be on the Near Miss Report? For example, what should be
reported to EHS instead?
  • Any incident involving hazardous waste that results in property damage, personal injury, or fires should go to EHS reporting.
  • Other incidents that avoided a worse situation should go to the Near Miss Report.
Where can I see previously submitted Near Miss Reports?
All reports, once published, can be accessed by clicking one of the links in the right panel. You can search by report or by hazard.
 
Who can I contact with further questions?
You can email your questions to ChemJST@elilists.yale.edu

 

Considerations

Note on anonymity: The submissions are completely anonymous, and no contact information is collected. (However, we have an option to for a submitter to add their name if they would like us to be able to contact them for more information.)

Note on submissions: Our main goal is to make this database a useful tool for current and future generations of researchers. We’re eager to hear about incidents that occurred not only at Yale, but at other schools as well. We encourage everyone to submit incidents that happened to them, to their labmates, or to researchers at other schools.

Note on secondary submissions: If you make a submission and would like to modify it or provide more information, we accept secondary submissions–just make a reference to your previous submission in the form.

Disclaimer: The information presented herein only represents our views of the best practices. If unsure of how to safely carry out an activity in lab, always consult e.g. a PI or safety officer regarding safety protocols.