A near-miss is an unplanned event that had the potential to cause harm, injury, or damage but did not, due to chance, luck, or timely intervention. Its parameters: (1) the presence of an active hazard or threat, (2) the failure of at least one protective barrier or safeguard, (3) the absence of actual harm or damage despite the breached defenses. It persists through formal incident reporting systems, safety databases, investigation protocols, and organizational learning processes that convert these events into preventive knowledge. [formal: proxima_event | substrate: behavior | horizon: hours | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.01]
Accepted ontology entry
near-miss
A near-miss is an unplanned event that had the potential to cause harm, injury, or damage but did not, due to chance, luck, or timely intervention. Its parameters: (1) the presence of an active hazard or threat, (2) the failure of at least…
Definition
Why it is in scope
Human-made concept for reporting an unintended event that almost caused harm but was prevented by chance or intervention. Built to persist through incident reporting systems, safety databases, and regulatory frameworks that track near-misses to learn from close calls before they become actual incidents.
Names and aliases
- near-missen · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
- cms8yd4ib02lb73fk4rt35q7mSERVES →
Near-miss data serves hazard-recognition: the designed purpose of tracking and reporting near-misses is to feed the hazard-recognition loop. Near-misses provide concrete evidence of near-events that reveal hidden patterns — they are maintained in databases and reporting systems for the sake of making hazards more detectable. Law 8d: for whose sake? hazard-recognition is the master.
- cms9293jz002i7skq3m4d9hr1SERVES →
Near-miss reporting systems are designed and maintained for the sake of safety management: they provide early-warning data that enables management to identify trends, intervene proactively, and improve the safety culture.
- cms89fknp002773fkfmafs3brDERIVED_FROM →
hazard (a potential source of harm) is the older, broader concept. near-miss builds on hazard by adding the temporal qualifier — an event where the hazard was present but harm was averted. Which existed first? hazard as 'dangerous thing' predates near-miss as a technical safety term.
- cmsai4gye004212cvwo9lkxizINSTANCE_OF →
Per Law 9, a near-miss is a specific kind of indicator — an observable event that signals something noteworthy occurred. A competent speaker calls it 'a type of indicator' in safety contexts. Near-miss is a specific instance of the general concept of indicator.
- cms9ojxxi01pj7skqgxfisvjoINSTANCE_OF →
A near-miss is a specific kind of safety-incident: it is an unplanned event in a safety context that had the potential to cause harm but did not, due to chance or timely intervention. Nearest kind is safety-incident (Law 9). Which-came-first: safety-incident (epoch 0, more foundational) predates near-miss (epoch 0.15), consistent with INSTANCE_OF direction.
Relations to this entry
No accepted relations in this direction.
Record identity
- Created
- Jul 31, 2026, 1:31 PM UTC
- Content hash
- b903a8cba9cbb90afe51ef8a5cfd07f82fbbcc8e8e1e80f2cc1a0cfa2e942da4