July 20 2026
By: Shawn M. Galloway
Here is a pattern I see in organization after organization. An employee reports a near miss. The report gets submitted. And then nothing happens. No follow-up. No corrective action. No acknowledgment that anyone even read it.
So the next time that employee sees something, they do the math. Why report into a void?
That calculation, repeated across your workforce, is why your near-miss numbers are low. Not because people do not care. Because experience has taught them that reporting does not matter.
Discretionary effort in reporting is a cultural outcome. You do not get it by asking for it. You get it by building conditions that make it rational to give. That means closing the feedback loop. Every time. Point to what changed because someone spoke up. Make the connection visible.
If people cannot see that their report led to something, the perception becomes reality. And reality, in this case, is a workforce that has quietly stopped surfacing the information you need most.
Shawn Galloway, CEO of ProAct Safety, is an expert in safety excellence. With almost thirty years of experience, he is a highly sought-after advisor, keynote speaker, and expert witness. Shawn has become a trusted partner to leading organizations across various industries worldwide. He ranks in the top 1% of the most prolific writers in his field, having authored over 500 articles and several bestselling books. He also launched the world's first safety podcast, Safety Culture Excellence©. As a recognized authority in safety, Shawn has received awards such as being named among the Top 50 People Who Most Influence EHS and a Top 10 Speaker, among others.
He is a regular guest on Bloomberg, Fox News, The Daily Mail, Dubai One, U.S. News & World Report, Sirius Business Radio, Wharton Business Daily, and leading safety magazines and podcasts. Shawn also serves as a member of the Harvard Business Review Advisory Council, Forbes Business Council, and Fast Company Executive Board, enabling his influence to shape safety thinking and strategy at the executive level.
