In the evolving world of work, safety has become an area of growing responsiveness. An EHS management program that is effective enables leaders to continually evaluate safety, compliance, and opportunities for improvement by measuring key safety performance indicators (KPI). Useable metrics allow EHS leaders to continually monitor workplace safety and effectiveness, mitigate risk to employees and others, and promote a culture of accountability.
In the following sections, we will discuss safety KPI metrics that are significant for any EHS leader to have on their radar and the roads to safety performance by pathways of: EHS performance metrics, contractor safety management, and a safety management app system.
Why Safety KPIs Matter in EHS Leadership
Monitoring safety KPIs includes compliance, but more broadly it establishes a predictive system to recognize, avoid, and resolve safety issues. EHS (Environmental Health and Safety) metrics allows companies to spot shortcomings in their processes to evaluate safety programs and build stronger management strategies and preventative measures.
Proper KPIs will also align leadership goals and the realities of the operation and ensure that employees and contractors work in a safe environment.
Key Safety KPIs Every EHS Leader Should Track
1. Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR)
TRIR is amongst the most popular measures of EHS performance. TRIR assesses the number of incidents that are counted as recordable (for OSHA purposes) for every 100 employees over the course of one calendar year. This KPI allows leaders to determine how they compare to their industry standards.
- Why It Matters: This KPI provides a sense of the totality of safety in the workplace.
- How To Use It: Use TRIR overtime to track trends in your organization over time.
2. Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR)
LTIFR simply relates to incidents where an employee was not able to return to work. This is an important measure of severity of incidents in a workplace.
- Why It Matters: This KPI helps organizations account for both direct and indirect costs for incidents.
- How To Use It: Use an LTIFR calculation in conjunction with a safety management application to identify repeated safety gaps.
3. Near-Miss Reporting Rate
High near-miss reporting rates reflect a proactive culture in which every employee feels motivated to report to management unsafe conditions that could have resulted in an incident.
- Why It Matters: This recognizes hazards before incidents occur.
- How To Use It: Connect this KPI with contractor safety management processes to ensure even
4. Timeliness of Corrective Action Implementation
This key performance indicator (KPI) tracks the timeliness in which corrective actions are taken and completed after any incident, audit, or inspection.
- Why it matters: It indicates that accountability is taken, and that there is a commitment to continuous improvement.
- How to use it: Using a safety management app, the corrective action process can be made very easy, and in real-time.
5. Training Completion Rate
Training is a cornerstone of workplace safety, and by tracking the rates, we can see how effective our employees and contractors are prepared to follow safety protocols.
- Why it matters: It shows that we are compliant with organizational and legal requirements.
- How to use it: This can be used as a metric for EHS performance metrics in preparedness of the workforce.
6. Contractor Incident Rate
Contractors are frequently involved in high-risk activities, making it crucial to track their incidence rate.
- Why it matters: It keeps both contractors and employees safe and minimizes your liability.
- How to use it: This should be geared around contractor activities and their risk, and can be supported by a safety management app.
7. Audit Findings
Safely auditing is a best practice that dictates gaps with policies, procedures, or compliance. The more findings and severity of audit findings is a direct reflection of the organization and safety.
- Why it matters: It keeps the organization in alignment to regulations.
- How to use it: Include the results in your performance metrics dashboards, this also provides visibility and accountability.
The Role of Technology in Tracking Safety KPIs
Digital transformation has disrupted EHS practices. New platforms like a safety management app allow leaders to:
- Streamline the data collection process for KPIs.
- Share immediate activity on incident and corrective action status.
- Improve compliance with centralized safety records.
- Improve contractor safety management with tracking of the external workforce safety status.
By leveraging technology within the EHS strategy, organizations can ensure safety KPIs are accurate, timely and actionable.
Building a Culture of Safety with KPIs
Although numbers are important, safety KPIs are only effective if there is a strong safety culture to support them. , Leaders must help their employees’ and contractors’ feel comfortable to participate in the safety process. In other words:
- Enhance transparent communication around hazards and near misses.
- Acknowledge and encourage safe behaviors.
- Use EHS performance metrics to communicate for not just measurement purposes, but also as a measure to spark motivation.
Looking Forward _(Future Trends in Safety KPI Tracking)
Like many other areas, safety has expectations that continue to change in our industries. Some of the trends that will persist will be:
- Predictive analytics: Utilizing historical and current data from EHS performance metrics to help forecast risks.
- Mobile first development: Continuing to expand the capabilities of safety management applications for real-time safety monitoring.
- Advanced contractor management: Furthered optimization of contractor safety monitoring and compliance management with tracking, measuring, and reporting as normally done now.
- All of these will lead EHS leaders to re-evaluate how they measure success against safety and how they can foster continuing improvement.
Conclusion
It’s important to monitor important safety KPIs to ensure an organization is compliant, proactive, and executed for workplace risks. By supporting EHS performance metrics, improving contractor safety management, and perhaps implementing a modern safety management app, EHS leaders can allow for a safer, more sustainable workplace.
SALOMI effectively understands how to couple reliable safety data with innovative products to more effectively serve EHS leaders. By contributing to organizations developing practical KPI tracking systems, SALOMI is taking part in organizations enhancing their safety culture and efficiency.
