Near Miss Reports Now Available on ResponderSafety.Com

Under cooperative agreement with the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) and National Near Miss (NNM), ResponderSafety.Com is pleased to now offer its web site visitors the opportunity to search roadway-related near miss reports from the NNM Fire database. As defined by NNM, a near miss is "an unintentional, unsafe occurrence that could have resulted in an injury, fatality, or property damage if not for a fortunate break in the chain of events." This expanded functionality on ResponderSafety.com is the newest way for first responders to learn from past incidents and apply these lessons to their own policies and procedures for responding to incidents on our nation's 4.1 million miles of roadways.

"We have been working with the IAFC and National Near Miss for some time to put in place the cooperative agreement and technical tools needed to make these reports available on ResponderSafety.Com," said Steve Austin, Project Manager. "Our success in forging this collaboration highlights the commitment of all three organizations to making the critical lessons learned in these reports available to the widest audience possible."

Visitors to ResponderSafety.com can search the NNM database by keyword for reports in the "vehicle roadway events" category of the fire NNM database. Each report retrieved includes an event narrative, lessons learned, details, resources and weather, and outcomes. The full database of all fire near miss incidents reported to NNM and a database of law enforcement near miss reports are available at NationalNearMiss.org.

"Many near miss incidents occur during roadway responses, and these reports carry important lessons for all responders who operate on the roadway," Austin said. "Everyone from fire, EMS, law enforcement, transportation and safety service patrols, and towing and recovery should make reading these reports part of their ongoing training. In addition, we encourage all responders to visit the National Near Miss web site and anonymously report near miss incidents they have experienced. Data collection is critical to identifying issues so we can develop training and resources to address them."

ResponderSafety.Com users are also encouraged to submit Near Miss reports to the national database. It is through the sharing of near miss experiences that we can identify unsafe practices and develop training and resources to address them to imporve responder safety. Reports can be submitted anonymously. Members of the fire service and associated EMS should report near miss incidents to the Fire NNM database. Members of law enforcement agencies should report near miss incidents to the LEO NNM database.

To search near miss reports involving roadways, please visit ResponderSafety.Com/NearMiss News Archive