The deaf profession: Why near-misses do not travel in a hierarchical safety system

Abstract

Near-miss reporting is widely promoted as a prerequisite for preventive organisational learning, yet many safety–critical organisations continue to learn primarily after harm has occurred. This qualitative study examines why near-miss information fails to travel and convert into learning in a hierarchical, mission-oriented safety system. Five participant-led, unmoderated focus group discussions were conducted during an occupational safety meeting in a military organisation, involving 45 personnel with formal occupational safety roles. A hybrid deductive-inductive thematic analysis was used to identify mechanisms shaping safety voice, reporting, receptivity, and learning closure. Findings show that near-miss reporting is shaped by three interacting conditions: consequence calculus, system friction, and weak closure. Consequence calculus filters what becomes reportable; system friction makes reporting and follow-up difficult to enact; and weak closure limits feedback, ownership, and visible resolution after concerns have been raised. Together, these conditions produce forum mismatch, in which safety concerns are routed away from formal systems, and workaround behaviours, including local templates, informal escalation, and selective reporting. The article introduces the concept of the deaf profession to explain how strong professional responsibility and mission commitment can coexist with weak organisational listening capacity. The study contributes to safety voice and reporting research by identifying closure as a central conversion point between voice and organisational learning, and by conceptualising receptivity as an organisational capability rather than an individual disposition. Practical implications include reducing reporting friction, assigning ownership for reported issues, and shifting safety performance indicators from reporting counts to learning conversions.