Practice question

What is the correct procedure for reporting a near-miss during a drill?

  1. Continue the drill and document later.
  2. Notify supervisor only after the drill.
  3. Stop the drill, document the incident, analyze root causes, communicate lessons, and adjust training.
  4. Ignore the incident if minor.

Answer: C — Stop the drill, document the incident, analyze root causes, communicate lessons, and adjust training.

Reporting a near-miss in a drill should happen promptly with a clear, safety-focused process. The best practice is to stop the drill if needed to secure everyone and the environment, then document exactly what happened, analyze why it occurred to identify root causes, share the lessons learned with all participants, and adjust the training to prevent a real incident in the future. This approach strengthens safety culture, helps pinpoint contributing factors (such as equipment issues, procedure gaps, or human factors), and ensures meaningful changes to training are made. If you were to continue the drill and document later, you’d miss timely learning opportunities and risk repeating the near-miss. Waiting to notify a supervisor only after the drill delays addressing the issue. Ignoring the incident, even if it seems minor, undermines safety and increases the chance of a similar event occurring again.

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