What counts with safety? When workers are safe, they can be productive — and the whole business benefits. The safest companies can see a 9% lift in customer satisfaction and a 13% increase in sales.
But profit and customer satisfaction are way downstream of most safety practices. How do you know, day to day, whether those practices will ladder up to better profitability?
These five strategies can help make sure you’re tracking the right things so that improving your safety KPIs leads to better business performance.
1. Measure Leading Indicators
Many companies already measure lagging indicators, such as Lost Time Incidence Rate (LTIR), Total Recordable Incidence Rate (TRIR), and Days Away, Restricted, or Transferred (DART). These are good measures of events in the past.
Focusing on leading indicators – proactive measures that can prevent accidents from happening in the first place – is just as important. A safer business is a more profitable business, and to stay on track, you need to know which leading indicators correlate with improved safety.
Near-Miss Reporting
Near-misses are often underreported because they don’t result in an injury or damage. However, reporting them gives your company a chance to address unsafe conditions or acts that could cause serious accidents in the future.
Once a near-miss is reported, make sure someone investigates the incident. Then follow up to make sure corrective actions are put in place as necessary.
Safety Observations
Conduct safety analyses of jobs at your company that have a high likelihood of injury: jobs that could cause severe injuries, jobs that are performed infrequently, and newly developed jobs.
Divide the job into steps, aiming for 10 or fewer, and have an experienced person, like a supervisor, observe a worker doing the job under normal conditions. Identify potential hazards by asking questions such as…
● Are slips, trips, and falls possible?
● Could the worker’s body or clothing get caught anywhere?
● Is the worker exposed to dust, fumes, or vapors?
Use this intel to establish preventive measures to eliminate or reduce injuries during the job.
I worked with a gas manufacturing customer that did a great job of identifying leading indicators. The company used AI technology in its trucks’ dash cams to measure risky driving behaviors, like speeding and rolling stops, so these behaviors could be addressed before leading to a traffic accident.
Measuring leading indicators can help prevent accidents before they occur, reduce costs associated with injuries, and improve overall productivity.
2. Establish SMART KPIs
Clear, actionable metrics drive real improvement, so follow the SMART framework when setting KPIs. SMART, which stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based, is not a new concept, but it’s a classic because it works.
Here’s how to follow the SMART framework when creating program goals:
● Specific: Each KPI needs to be specific to help accurately measure progress toward a particular objective. To check whether you’re on the right track, ask yourself if it’s clear what your KPI actually measures.
● Measurable: Ensure that your KPI can actually be tracked and involves a number for measurement.
● Achievable: You want to reach for improvement, but you don’t want to set yourself up for failure. Consider past performance to decide whether a goal is actually achievable.
● Relevant: Make sure you’re measuring and sharing metrics that connect to business-level goals. You want your team to understand your goals and why you track them.
● Time-Based: Have a deadline. This will also allow you to compare performance to different periods of time (MoM, YoY, etc.).
Find visible ways to track your goals — like a real-time dashboard — to boost buy-in and make it easier to view progress throughout the year.
3. Use the Safety Pyramid
The safety pyramid is a framework for understanding safety at your organization.
Picture a pyramid. The base represents your leading indicators: near misses, unsafe behaviors, and hazards.
The middle section is your lagging indicators: medical only and lost-time incidents. The very top of the pyramid represents the most severe accidents, those that lead to serious injury or fatality.
This framework demonstrates that for every serious injury or fatality at the top of the pyramid, there are more lost-time injuries, even more medical-only accidents, even more near-misses, and even more unsafe behaviors.
By focusing on the foundational elements of the Safety Pyramid, you can prevent more serious accidents at the top.
4. Engage Your Whole Team
Foster a culture of safety by involving all levels of your company — from leaders to frontline workers — in setting and tracking safety goals.
Make Leaders Visible
Company leadership should be visible participants in safety meetings and follow all safety protocols themselves, setting the expectation that safety should be taken seriously.
Create Feedback Loops
Feedback loops encourage all team members to participate in safety reporting. Follow these best practices:
●Use digital tools and apps that make reporting hazards and near-misses easy for everyone.
●Establish quick response protocols that acknowledge submissions.
●Clearly communicate the corrective actions taken.
● Make regular updates on safety improvements based on employee feedback.
Use Positive Reinforcement
Reward employees for exceeding safety expectations by giving them a shout-out during company meetings or even by providing them with a gift card or free lunch. Share how their actions have positively impacted the company.
Make your acknowledgement public, so other employees see the impact and value of carefully following safety standards.
Getting everyone at your company involved will make measuring safety performance and taking corrective actions easier.
5. Take Advantage of Technology
It’s easier to do all these things when safety tools are in every worker’s pocket. That’s not possible with safety binders and old-school spreadsheets.
EHS software can centralize data collection, automate reporting, and provide real-time insights into safety performance. Many software programs have mobile apps, so workers can easily access training and data sheets while on the job.
Finding the right EHS software for your organization is key. Look for software that…
● Facilitates inspections and audits
● Automates workflows and lets you assign people to take actions
● Makes reporting and tracking incidents easy
● Provides training and education
● Lets you store and easily retrieve your health and safety records
EHS software can make sure you’re not missing any details or insights that matter to your safety program. Plus, OSHA expects that most organizations will have some type of EHS software in place.
Choose the Safety Metrics That Drive Profit
Enacting one or two of these strategies will help improve your company’s safety practices. By implementing all five strategies, so they can work together, you’re likely to see even bigger results.
For example, I recently worked with a construction materials company that was struggling to track safety incidents and get employees involved in safety. The company began using EHS software to organize documents and track metrics. It set and tracked SMART KPIs that enabled clear identification of improvement areas and celebrations of success.
This led to leadership buy-in, and when employees saw leadership taking safety seriously, their participation in safety programs increased.
By measuring the right metrics and establishing a culture of safety, you’ll lay the stepping stones to a much safer — and more profitable — workplace.
