Incident and Near Miss Reporting
BMC Incident and Near-miss Reporting
Every year hillwalkers, climbers and mountaineers are involved in incidents and near-misses on the crags, hills and mountains of the UK and Ireland. Some result in no harm, others in injury or death. Seemingly trivial decisions can have serious consequences, and so the opportunity to learn from others’ experiences is very valuable. Sharing real-life accounts of these events can help us all manage risk more effectively.
To support this aim, the BMC have an incident and near-miss reporting database. By adding your report to the database you will help the wider community learn from your experiences.
Anyone can submit a report, including a participant, rescuer or observer. Your report will be reviewed by our volunteer moderators for publication online. If reporting anonymously your name will not be published.
By submitting a report you consent to use of your information in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
The BMC, Mountaineering Scotland and Mountaineering Ireland are working in partnership with this reporting system to support all our members. Mountaineering Scotland also have their own near-misses reporting system to which you may like to contribute. We encourage you to read the tales of near-misses and rescues already submitted.
FAQs
Whilst hill walkers, climbers and mountaineers travel far and wide for their activities, only reports for incidents and near-misses in the UK and Ireland will be considered.
Volunteer moderators may be concerned about reports for reasons such as:
- Offensive or discriminatory language.
- Libel concerns.
- Identification of individuals or organisations where it is not clear that consent has been given.
No. Moderators may ask the submitter to edit their report before it can be published for reasons such as those above.
As well as not providing names, consider if other information may make compromise anonymity. For example, including a phrase such as this may not ensure anonymity, ‘During our hill walking club’s annual Easter meet in Borrowdale…..’
Yes, but please ensure that the wall remains anonymous. The behaviour or actions leading to the incident are more important to record than the location.
Yes, photos can add to the story you convey in your report. However we don't want to reduce the beneficial impact of your story so our moderators will only publish photos that avoid graphic illustration of injuries. Please note any photos you may submit could be used on our BMC social media for the purpose of raising awareness of a certain issue to avoid for future