How do you calculate the near miss rate?

Multiply the number of near misses by 200,000 and divide by the total hours worked. 18 near misses in a year with 500,000 hours worked gives 18 x 200,000 / 500,000 = 7.2 per 100 full-time workers.

Why is 200,000 used in safety rate formulas?

It is the hours 100 full-time employees work in a year: 100 x 40 hours x 50 weeks. OSHA uses the same base for the total recordable incident rate, so the near miss rate reads per 100 workers per year.

What is a good near miss rate?

There is no regulatory benchmark. Many safety teams look for several near misses for every recordable injury and track their own trend. A plant with a recordable rate of 2.0 and a near miss rate of 7.2 reports about 3.6 near misses per injury, a sign of reporting that can usually be built up.

What hours should I include?

Hours actually worked by all employees in the period, including overtime and supervised temporary workers, from payroll or timekeeping. Leave out paid leave, holidays and other hours not worked.

Safety and Workforce

Near Miss Rate Formula

The near miss rate normalizes reported close calls to the same 200,000-hour base OSHA uses for injury rates, so sites of different sizes can be compared. Use it to track how well hazards are being reported before they turn into injuries.

Formula

Near Miss Rate = Near Misses x 200,000 / Total Hours Worked

Variables

Near Misses: Reported events that could have caused injury or damage but did not, in the period
200,000: Hours worked by 100 full-time employees in a year (100 x 40 hours x 50 weeks)
Total Hours Worked: Hours actually worked by all employees in the same period, from payroll

Understanding the Near Miss Rate Formula

The 200,000-hour base is the hours 100 full-time employees work in a year, the same base the OSHA total recordable incident rate uses. Scaling to it turns a raw count into a rate per 100 workers: 18 reports over 500,000 hours becomes 7.2, comparable with a site twice or half the size.

Use hours actually worked from payroll, including overtime and temporary staff under your supervision, and exclude vacation and sick leave. Count every report that meets your written definition of a near miss, whether or not anyone was nearby, and keep the definition fixed so the trend means something.

Read the near miss rate next to the injury rate. A healthy safety culture reports many near misses for each recordable injury; the classic safety pyramid puts tens of near misses under every injury. A rising rate after a campaign to encourage reporting is a success, and a sudden drop deserves a conversation on the floor before it is celebrated.

Worked Example

A plant logged 18 near-miss reports in a year in which its employees worked 500,000 hours.

Near miss rate = 18 x 200,000 / 500,000
= 3,600,000 / 500,000
= 7.2 near misses per 100 full-time workers

Result: 7.2 near misses per 100 full-time workers per year

Common Mistake

Treating a falling near miss rate as good news. Near misses are a leading indicator of reporting: a rate that drops while injuries stay flat usually means fewer people are reporting, not that the plant became safer.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you calculate the near miss rate?: Multiply the number of near misses by 200,000 and divide by the total hours worked. 18 near misses in a year with 500,000 hours worked gives 18 x 200,000 / 500,000 = 7.2 per 100 full-time workers.
Why is 200,000 used in safety rate formulas?: It is the hours 100 full-time employees work in a year: 100 x 40 hours x 50 weeks. OSHA uses the same base for the total recordable incident rate, so the near miss rate reads per 100 workers per year.
What is a good near miss rate?: There is no regulatory benchmark. Many safety teams look for several near misses for every recordable injury and track their own trend. A plant with a recordable rate of 2.0 and a near miss rate of 7.2 reports about 3.6 near misses per injury, a sign of reporting that can usually be built up.
What hours should I include?: Hours actually worked by all employees in the period, including overtime and supervised temporary workers, from payroll or timekeeping. Leave out paid leave, holidays and other hours not worked.