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How can you organise the reporting of hazardous situations, from first report to closing out the action ?

A hazardous situation spotted in the field protects no one until it has been reported, analysed and dealt with.

According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), 126 workers were fatally injured in work-related accidents in Great Britain in 2025/26 (provisional figure), around a quarter of them after a fall from height.

C2D Prévention supports companies in building a lasting safety culture and offers the Watson app, which lets people report a field risk in just a few clicks. This article sets out the stages of a hazard reporting process, from the first report to closing out the action.

Why can a hazardous situation go unaddressed ?

A hazardous situation goes unaddressed when the route between the shopfloor and the decision-maker is missing, too cumbersome or offers no visible feedback. A safety practitioner from an industrial company, in a presentation on near-miss reporting, lists the barriers to reporting and the pitfalls to avoid: an approach seen as punitive, a search for fault rather than causes, a tool that is too complex, a lack of feedback, management by numbers, fear of being reprimanded, a feeling that reporting is pointless, and work overload.

HSE’s annual statistics, published on 1 July 2026, record 126 workers fatally injured in Great Britain in 2025/26 (provisional figure), two fewer than the finalised figure of 128 for 2024/25. This corresponds to a rate of 0.37 fatal injuries per 100,000 workers, and falls from height account for around a quarter of these deaths. These data describe accidents that have already happened. Hazardous situations reported before an accident occurs are a complementary source of information.

What does HSE guidance say about near misses ?

HSE’s Near-miss Book (INDG185, February 2021) gives guidance on recording and reporting near misses at work. It explains that a pattern of near misses provides an early warning that something needs attention, and that near misses are a valuable source of information, even when they may seem trivial. A near miss can be described as an unplanned event that causes no harm but could have done.

Among the purposes of reporting, the practitioner cites: giving a true picture of the field, anticipating future accidents, detecting events with a high potential for severity, encouraging employee involvement and enriching lessons learned. The practitioner points out that not all near misses carry the same potential for severity: the challenge is to deal with those where it is high.

During a safety assessment, a C2D Prévention expert looks in particular at the trade-offs between safety and production and at the weak signals that often go unseen in reporting. The CAP method for its part draws on a Comprehend phase, which combines targeted interviews, field observations and an online survey to establish the starting diagnosis.

What stages make up a hazard reporting process ?

A reporting process rests on five stages: framing the approach, explaining it, putting a simple tool in place, creating an analysis route and ensuring feedback and lessons learned. These are the stages presented by the safety practitioner.

Frame the approach. Appoint a lead and plan follow-up. In the company concerned, this role falls to the safety practitioner.
Explain the approach. Present it to operators and supervisors before it is launched.
Put a simple tool in place. The tool must be understood by operators. Formalities should be kept as light as possible, so that they do not discourage its use.
Create an analysis route. Define who analyses, when and how.
Ensure feedback and lessons learned. Inform supervisors and operators of what has been decided.

How should the action plan be followed up ?

Once the causes are understood, it is good practice to formalise an action plan in table form, setting out the person responsible for each action, its planned completion date and the forecast investment, so that actions can be traced and followed up. The same analysis approach can also be applied to near misses and incidents, particularly when they recur.

Follow-up is organised at a frequency set in advance, for example quarterly or half-yearly, with simple indicators: the number of corrective actions implemented against the number expected, and the number of deadlines met. Feedback from the field after an action has been implemented also makes it possible to assess how well it has held and how far employees have embraced it.

Would you like to know where your reporting process stands? C2D Prévention can carry out a safety assessment to observe how prevention is experienced and put into practice in the field.

How does Watson support this process day to day ?

Watson brings reporting, alerts, action follow-up and indicator management together in a single app. C2D Prévention presents the Watson app as usable without prior training, with field risk reporting in three clicks.

Which features cover reporting, alerts and follow-up ?

On the reporting side, the Express Reporting function lets users declare a hazardous situation or a good practice in a few seconds, using a form designed to capture and qualify the observed risk. On the alert side, the relevant managers and the health and safety team are notified automatically, and a stop instruction can be triggered in the event of serious danger.

On the follow-up side, Watson makes it possible to manage problem resolution and the closing of reports, which corresponds to the action plan and the feedback described above. The Briefing Manager module offers a daily review of workstations, and the H&S Management module gives access to indicators and trends. Data is hosted in France.

Watson is part of C2D Prévention’s support offer. The CAP method cites it among the solutions suited to managing real-life situations, and its final phase relies on indicators that measure, among other things, the ability to talk about real work, gaps and dilemmas. A reporting tool adds to this dialogue without replacing it.

Hazard reporting produces results when reporting is simple, when the alert reaches the right person, when each action has an owner and a deadline, and when the field can see what has been decided. These conditions depend on both organisation and trust between teams and supervisors. C2D Prévention works on them through the CAP method and equips them with the Watson app.

Key takeaways

According to HSE, a pattern of near misses provides an early warning that something needs attention.
A reporting process rests on five stages: framing the approach, explaining it, choosing a simple tool, creating an analysis route and ensuring feedback and lessons learned.
Among the barriers identified by an industrial safety practitioner are a tool that is too complex, a lack of feedback and an approach seen as punitive.
Each corrective action relies on an owner, a deadline and a follow-up indicator.
Watson, C2D Prévention’s app, brings together reporting, alerts, action follow-up and H&S indicators.

FAQ

What is a near miss ?

A near miss is an unplanned event that causes no harm but could have done. The practitioner’s presentation gives as examples the detection of damaged parts while erecting scaffolding and a slip on a wet floor where the person regained their balance.

What is the difference between a near miss, an incident and an accident ?

A near miss causes no harm. An incident causes damage to installations, equipment, industrial processes or the environment, confined to the company’s premises. An accident causes harm to people. Terminology varies between organisations, so it is worth agreeing definitions internally.

How can employees be encouraged to report a hazardous situation ?

The stages presented by the practitioner are to explain the approach to operators and supervisors, provide a simple tool and ensure feedback on reports. They address the barriers identified: an approach seen as punitive, a tool that is too complex and a lack of feedback.

Which indicators should be tracked to manage hazard reporting ?

In the company concerned, three indicators are tracked: the number of near misses reported, the ratio of high-severity-potential near misses to near misses reported, and the number of actions put in place. Other useful indicators are the number of corrective actions implemented against the number expected and the number of deadlines met. However, management by numbers is among the pitfalls listed by the practitioner.

Is prior training needed to use Watson ?

C2D Prévention’s website presents the Watson app as usable without prior training and simple to deploy, with quick take-up by teams. A demonstration can be requested from C2D Prévention via the app’s page.

Sources

(1 July 2026). Work-related fatal injuries in Great Britain: annual statistics 2025/26. https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/assets/docs/fatalinjuries.pdf

(February 2021). Near-miss Book: Recording and reporting near misses at work (INDG185). https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/near-miss-book.htm

C2D Prévention. Watson app: H&S software for risk reporting (page in French). https://www.c2dprevention.com/accompagnement-securite-et-coaching/application-watson/

C2D Prévention. Safety assessment for risk prevention and safety. https://www.c2dprevention.com/en/safety-coaching-support/assessment/

C2D Prévention. Safety Day: tailored safety workshops and conferences. https://www.c2dprevention.com/en/workshops-3/