The Accident Pyramid indicates:

The correct answer is A because the Accident Pyramid (also known as Heinrich’s Pyramid or the Safety Triangle) illustrates the relationship between near misses, minor incidents, and major accidents . According to CCPS and traditional safety theory, for every serious or fatal accident, there are many more low-consequence events and near misses that occur but do not result in harm.

This concept is fundamental to process safety metrics and learning systems , as it emphasizes that organizations should not only focus on major incidents but also actively track and investigate near misses and minor events . These lower-level events provide valuable insight into system weaknesses and potential failure pathways before a catastrophic incident occurs.

Option B is incorrect because Murphy’s law is unrelated to structured safety analysis. Option C reverses the logic of the pyramid—minor incidents are far more frequent than major ones, not the other way around. Option D is incorrect because the pyramid represents a range of incident severities , not just major incidents.

CCPS uses this concept to promote proactive safety management , encouraging organizations to learn from small failures and near misses to prevent escalation into severe process safety events.