A Key Source of Incident Underreporting Is Accessibility of Reporting Systems.
Safety programs rely on data to inform sound decisions and make tough calls. But what happens when that data is incomplete? Or isn’t captured at all?
For many organizations, one of the biggest challenges to effective incident management is getting a full and accurate picture of workplace safety risks. Organizations invest heavily in systems, processes, and training designed to improve hazard awareness. Yet many companies still struggle because a significant portion of workplace incidents, near-misses, and hazards never get documented. The effect is that they lack a full picture of risk.
The Crisis of Underreporting in Safety
The extent of underreporting is larger than most organizations realize. Research estimates that between 33% and 69% of workplace injuries are never captured in official records¹. In some cases, workers report only 63% of serious injuries¹, while broader studies suggest that as many as 20% to 91% of incidents go unreported altogether².
Even on the low end, this data highlights a significant gap between the reality of safety risks and what organizations can capture in their data. It’s worth remembering that when incidents go unreported, the risk does not disappear. It simply becomes invisible, hiding under the surface, until it is exposed.
For EHS leaders, this gap has real consequences. Incident trends become harder to identify. High-risk areas remain hidden. Decisions meant to improve safety are made without considering the full picture of risk.
Why Don’t Workers Report Incidents?
Underreporting is not simply a matter of non-compliance or lack of awareness on the part of workers. Most workers understand reporting expectations and requirements quite well. The issue is friction, which often takes the form of difficult or inaccessible reporting systems. And as a consequence, it creates a workplace culture that reinforces underreporting.
In many workplaces, incident reporting naturally implies a disruption in the flow of work. Logging into an incident management system, navigating forms and procedures, and submitting a report can feel confusing or challenging in fast-paced production environments. When time is limited, reporting is often delayed or skipped entirely. These pressures can easily give rise to a culture of underreporting that’s difficult to change, let alone reverse.
Risk perception also plays a role. Many workers do not report incidents because they do not believe the issue or incident is serious enough. In other words, lack of clarity around recordability and seriousness of injuries mean incidents are often dismissed due to lack of training and knowledge, especially if perceptions of risk are inconsistent among workers. Over time, this creates a pattern and culture where only major incidents are reported, and early warning signs like hazards and near-misses are de-prioritized and/or ignored.
These cultural factors can also lead to another reporting barrier that’s even more difficult to overcome. Workers may worry about how reporting impacts their reputation, relationships with supervisors, or job security. Concerns over retaliation or being blamed for incidents certainly contributes to underreporting, even in organizations with strong safety cultures².
The point is that when reporting systems are difficult to access or use, participation drops. The result is predictable. Fewer reports. Less data. More blind spots. More risk.
The Growing Risk with Contractors & Temporary Workers
Building strong engagement and participation in incident reporting is hard enough among a full-time regular workforce. These challenges are amplified when contractors, temporary workers, and other contingent laborers enter the picture.
Organizations across virtually every industry increasingly rely on contingent labor, especially where production and demand are variable and require flexible labor arrangements. Contractors, temporary workers, and other third-party personnel are essential to operational flexibility, but they are often excluded from incident reporting systems (and safety programs, more broadly). This is true in terms of both representation within those systems and having access to them.
Contingent workers may not have access to internal incident reporting systems. They may not receive the same level of training on incident reporting procedures, and even their need to access reporting systems is often overlooked. Their contingent status unfortunately makes them easier to miss in terms of safety training and inclusion in the safety program.
Research shows that workers in non-standard/contingent (i.e., temporary or contract) employment arrangements are less likely to report injuries or illnesses than full-time regular employees². Sub-groups within this category including low-wage workers, minority workers, and those who are non-English speaking face additional barriers to reporting access.
The result is a growing disconnect between risk exposure and visibility of that risk, almost solely because safety risk reporting is less accessible for all workers. If a portion of the workforce operates outside the reporting system, that means a portion of risk goes unmeasured.
Why Near-Miss and Hazard Reporting Matter More Than You Think
When organizations think about incident reporting, they often focus heavily on recordable injuries and other actual safety incidents, and far less on the value of proactive hazard identification and near-miss reporting of potential safety risks.
A near-miss is an event that did not result in injury or damage, but had the potential to do so⁴. These events provide insight into what could go wrong before it actually does.
Research suggests that for every injury, there may be 10 to as many as 100 near-miss incidents associated with it⁴. That means the majority of risk signals exist before an injury ever occurs.
These signals represent early warnings. They show where processes are breaking down, where conditions are unsafe, and where controls are failing. And yet, they are often the least reported.
Near-Misses & Hazard IDs: Your Most Valuable Leading Indicators
Near-miss and hazard reporting gives organizations access to intelligence they cannot get from injury data alone. It reveals underlying risk.
Unlike lagging indicators, which capture data around what has already gone wrong, near-miss and hazard reporting highlights what could go wrong next. When organizations consistently capture and analyze near-misses and hazards, they can:
- – Identify root causes earlier, before an incident
- – Detect risk patterns across locations and teams
- – Improve hazard recognition among workers
- – Strengthen preventive controls before incidents occur
Some view near-misses as “free lessons” for safety management⁴, and rightly so. They provide the opportunity to improve without paying the potentially devastating cost of an actual incident.
But that lesson only has value if the data is captured and used toward implementing appropriate corrective actions.
The Cost of Overlooking Near-Misses
When near-misses and hazards are not reported, organizations lose their most actionable and predictive safety insights. If these risks are not identified and addressed proactively, the likelihood of future incidents increases.
There is also a cultural impact on your workforce. When near-misses and hazards go unaddressed by leadership, workers see this example and begin to underestimate and deprioritize risks, thinking that they’re “not a big deal.” Over time, this leads to diminished risk perception, a poor safety culture, and uninformed decision-making⁴. When this cultural collapse occurs, safety becomes an afterthought, rather than a priority as it should be.
A Better Approach to Incident, Near-Miss & Hazard Reporting
If friction or culture is the problem, simplicity and access are the solution.
QR Codes for Incident Management makes reporting immediate and accessible. With a simple scan, anyone onsite can submit an incident, near-miss, or hazard in seconds.
This removes many of the known barriers that prevent reporting by:
- – Eliminating login access barriers
- – Allowing for anonymous reporting where there are concerns about retaliation
- – Providing incident reporting system translations in more than 30 languages
- – Minimizing delays between observation and corrective action
For contractors and temporary workers, especially, this creates a consistent way to participate in safety reporting without additional friction or barriers.
For near-misses and hazards, it enables reporting in the moment when incident details are fresh and quick, responsive action is most valuable.
From Easier Reporting to Comprehensive Insight
The goal is not just to increase reporting volume. It is to improve the quality and completeness of safety data. When reporting becomes easier, it also improves data accuracy. Add that to a greater volume of incident reporting information, and organizations gain the best possible picture of real-world conditions.
With better data, organizations can:
- – Identify trends earlier
- – Prioritize risks more effectively
- – Act before incidents escalate
The ability to integrate this new resource of near-miss and hazard reporting data into your existing incident investigation, risk assessment, root cause analysis, and corrective action workflows allows risks to be evaluated congruently with other risks throughout the workplace and prioritized using consistent and standardized criteria.
See What Better Visibility Can Do for Your Safety Program
The faster workers can report incidents, hazards, and near-misses, the faster your organization can act on risk. QR Codes for Incident Management remove reporting barriers, expand participation across your workforce, and improve the quality of your safety data.
Explore how VelocityEHS can help you strengthen incident reporting and build a more proactive safety program:
- – Learn more about QR Codes for Incident Management
- – Explore Incident Management capabilities
- – Discover the VelocityEHS Safety Solution
- – See how the Accelerate® Platform connects your EHS programs
Capture more data, faster. Gain clearer visibility into risk. Make critical safety decisions with confidence.
References
1. Galizzi, M., Miesmaa, P., Punnett, L., & Slatin, C. (2010). Injured workers’ underreporting in the health care industry: An analysis using quantitative, qualitative, and observational data. Industrial Relations, 49(1), 22–43.
2. Fan, Z. J., Bonauto, D. K., Foley, M. P., & Silverstein, B. A. (2006). Underreporting of work-related injury or illness to workers’ compensation: Individual and industry factors. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 48(9), 914–922.
3. Kyung, M., Lee, S.-J., Dancu, C., & Hong, O. (2023). Underreporting of workers’ injuries or illnesses and contributing factors: A systematic review. BMC Public Health, 23, 558.
4. Haas, E. J., Demich, B., & McGuire, J. (2020). Learning from workers’ near-miss reports to improve organizational management. Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration, 37(3), 873–885.
