According to some estimates, near miss events may cost twice as much as serious incidents or fatalities. According to a Houston Business Bureau, CII and Exxon Chemical report, a near miss event is estimated to cost about $1,300 and they estimate about 1,000 near miss events for every fatality. Using 2004 Bureau of Labor Statistics data, 5,703 workplace fatalities were reported across the United States. At an estimated million dollars per fatality, near misses cost the private sector more than a trillion dollars more, on the monetary side of the equation, than fatality. And, if estimated costs are shifted, near misses can move this ledger amount to twice that of fatalities.

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