What is the role of incident reporting in facility inspections?

• A. Delete incident records after a short period.
• B. Document and investigate any accidents or near-misses, determine root causes, and implement corrective actions.
• C. Report only to internal management but not authorities.
• D. Ignore near-miss events as non-critical.

Answer: (B)

Incident reporting is about capturing what happened and using that information to prevent it from happening again. When an incident or near-miss is reported, the investigation looks beyond symptoms to uncover root causes—such as equipment failure, gaps in procedures, training weaknesses, or maintenance gaps. With those causes identified, corrective actions are developed, assigned, and tracked to completion, and then verified to ensure they worked. Sharing the findings and lessons learned helps improve safety across the facility and informs future inspections.

Near-miss reports are especially valuable because they reveal hazards that could have caused harm, giving a chance to intervene before a real incident occurs. Deleting incident records erases this history and blocks trend analysis. Reporting only to internal management misses required oversight and potential regulatory expectations. Ignoring near-misses means missing critical warning signs.