Effect of Confidentiality of Reporting System On Employee Perception and Their Willingness to Report near-Misses

Reporting of near-miss incidents in the chemical industry is an important process in understanding the weaknesses in the technical and organizational system. However, research suggests there is a major bias that has the potential to substantially lower the value that is derived from the near-miss management systems?underreporting of near-misses. One of the reasons reported in the literature for under-reporting of near-misses is the fear of being recognized and blamed. There have been claims that a confidential reporting system may provide reassurance and hence reduce under-reporting. This study attempts to answer the question of whether the presence of a confidential reporting system will have an impact on an operator's decision to report. Employees at three chemical plants across the United States were surveyed to determine their perceptions about eight hypothetical, but realistic, scenarios. To study the effect of the confidentiality aspect, the scenarios were presented to two different sets of employees at each location: one set was informed that the system was confidential and one set informed that the system was not. Despite the supporting theories, results show that there was no significant effect of confidentiality of the reporting system on employee perception related to near-misses and their willingness to report.