We’ve all become familiar-perhaps too familiar—with the violent episodes on the TV or movie screen, complete with buckets of gore and dreadful screams of pain. They may raise our pulse rate momentarily, but by the time the next program or feature begins, we’ve forgotten all about it. After all: “it wasn’t real.”
By contrast, anyone unfortunate enough to have experienced or witness a serious accident, on the road or at their workplace, won’t forget the real blood, screams, and tears for a long time, if ever.
There is a serious real-life danger, though, in near misses that don’t result in damage to persons or property, because we may tend to think of them like the movie massacre—scary for a few minutes, but with no real harm done.
This is a dangerous attitude because if we don’t notice and correct whatever condition or behavior caused that close call, it’s very likely that there will be further close calls, some minor accidents, and finally—with just the right combination of circumstances—there may be a very serious or fatal accident. A close call or “near miss,” therefore, should be regarded as a red flag—a sign that something is very wrong and requires attention.
Every close call is a call for action. Sometime its cause can be easily fixed. In other cases, the whole system may need a major revision. But a near miss should never be ignored. That way the next “real” accident may not happen after all.