KENT BLACKMON BSC., CRSP
R Y A N O R V I S C R S P, C H S C
SESSION OBJECTIVES
 Internal Responsibility System
 Benefits of measuring safety performance
 Measuring what’s important
What makes measures effective
Leading vs. lagging indicators
 Setting the standard
Integrating new metrics and establishing goals
 Recognizing a Strong Safety Culture
Internal Responsibility System
3
INTERNAL RESPONSIBILITY SYSTEM
 Internal responsibility should be
active at a workplace with
partnerships in place to ensure a
safe workplace which includes:
responsibility, cooperation, sharing
information, accountability and
integrating H&S in to daily
production activities.
 Committees = play a large and
important role at a workplace as
they are the connection to hear
concerns of the larger group.
Safety Officers
Right to
know
Duties of
Right to
Workers
Refuse
Duties of
Right to
Managers
Participate
Duties of
Supervisors
Duties of
Employers
OHS Management System
INTERNAL RESPONSIBILITY SYSTEM
 Supervisors = provide leadership in
controlling hazards, training, monitoring to
ensure compliance on their line and ensure
implementation of policies on the floor,
inspections, and report unsolvable issues.
 Employees = follow H&S policies and
procedures, report hazards and cooperate
with their supervisor.
 Safety Team = internal auditing, provide
leadership, train, implement H&S policies,
manage incidents, deal with reported
hazards and monitor and enforce safety
program.
Safety Officers
Right to
know
Duties of
Right to
Workers
Refuse
Duties of
Right to
Managers
Participate
Duties of
Duties of
Supervisors
Employers
OHS Management System
INTERNAL RESPONSIBILITY SYSTEM
 By understanding the “system” we see how
each party in the workplace not only has
responsibility, but more importantly how they
intertwine and support each other.
 We can also realize the importance of how
relationships and communication between
parties can determine the drive for a better
safety culture and performance.
RELATING THE INTERNAL RESPONSIBILITY
SYSTEM TO SAFETY INDICATORS
 By understanding the IRS and the difference between Leading & Lagging
indicators we can see how they can relate.
 By following the IRS employers will be accountable to have and monitor a
strong OHS management system. All workers will be accountable to follow
the safety program, and have the right to know and participate. Everyone
will have a voice in the program. This would relate to our leading indicators.
 Having a strong OHS management system supported by the IRS,
theoretically should reduce injury statistics. This would have a positive effect
to our lagging indicators.
Why Measure Safety?
8
WHY MEASURE SAFETY PERFORMANCE?
 What gets measured, gets managed
 Provide an objective basis to determine
program effectiveness.
 Provide information for decision making
(management)
 Forms basis for continual improvement
PLAN-DO-CHECK-ACT
Plan
Do
Check
Act
• Establish the standards for health and safety
• Implement the plan to achieve objective and
standards
• Measure progress with plans and compliance with
standards
• Take appropriate action to correct any deficiencies
WHAT MAKES MEASURES EFFECTIVE
 Reliability
The consistency or repeatability of the measurement
 Validity
Relationship between measurement and program
 Understandability
 Can you/others explain what they mean?
 Action-ability
Can results be translated into action
HOW ARE WE DOING?
12
Company XYZ – SAFETY STATS
10
8
Injury Rate
6
Fines/Penalities
Serious Incidents
4
2
0
2009
2010
2011
2012
Measuring What’s Important
13
SAFETY METRICS FRAMEWORK
 Over the past decade, companies have been
looking for better, more pro-active measures of
safety performance.
 Traditional methods of evaluating safety
performance have not provided the right
information.
 Traditionally we would look at injury frequency’s
TRADITIONAL SAFETY MEASURES
Trailing (or lagging) Indicators
 Results measures that tell what happened.
 Focus on what went wrong.
 Include injury statistics and loss reports.
 Good for accountability but not indicative of
best strategies for continuous improvement.
PROBLEMS WITH LAGGING INDICATORS
 Provides a limited, and often distorted, view of safety
performance. Can be a deceptive indicator.
 Lagging indicators do not explain performance; i.e. they
provide insufficient data about what has been done (or not
done); how well it was done; and their relationship to
outcomes.
 Possible “polluted" reporting.
 Can be a motivation killer.
 They do not provide sufficient process insights to effectively
manage health and safety.
“Managing safety only by LTI, is like playing
tennis with your eye on the scoreboard and not
on the ball”
(Bernard Borg, 2002, Predictive Safety from Near
Miss and Hazard Reporting)
LEADING INDICATORS
 Measures that can be effective in predicting
future safety performance.
 “Before-The-Fact Measures.”
 Assess results of actions taken before incidents
occur.
 Help to assess performance “effort” vs. “result’
LEADING INDICATORS -EXAMPLES
 Health & Safety Audits
 Number (or %) of managers trained in Health & Safety Leadership
 Number of senior leadership meetings with safety included on the agenda
 Supervisor safety activities
 Incident investigations completed within prescribed timeframe
 Resolution of employee suggestions/Hazard ID
 Percent of internal inspections conducted as scheduled
 Number of safe acts, near misses reported or recognized
 Employee safety perception surveys
 Wellness program participation
LEADING VS. LAGGING
Lagging Indicators
Leading Indicators/Activities
 Reportable Injury Frequency
 Behavior Based Observations
 Lost Time Severity
 Near Miss Reporting
 Workers Compensation Costs
 Employee Perception Surveys
 Supervisor Safety Activities
 Property Damage Costs
 Hazard ID/Analysis Process
 Number of work improvement
orders
 OHS Audits
POST LOSS / REACTION
LOSS CONTAINMENT
 Contractor EHS Selection
PRE LOSS / PREVENTION
LOSS CONTROL
Setting the Standard
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SAFETY MANAGEMENT (SIMPLIFIED)
Safety
Program
Uncontrolled
Hazards
Input
Safety
Culture
Process
Outcome
THE BALANCED SCORECARD
Results
 Results
Injury Stats
 Program
Vision &
Strategy
 Training, Inspections,
investigations, audits etc.
 Culture
 Behaviors, conditions,
perceptions
Culture
Program
SETTING THE STANDARD
 Standards for safety performance
measurements should :
Be documented
Define key safety performance measures
Identify minimum acceptable performance
 Outline how data is to be collected and
reported at all levels
Strengthen safety program oversight
WHEN TO MEASURE?
Increase the frequency
Decrease the frequency
• Evidence of noncompliance
• Required by legislation
• Activity happens
frequently
• High potential for
change
• Evidence of
compliance
• No legal requirement
• Non-frequent activity
• Low potential for
change
WHAT IS ACCEPTABLE PERFORMANCE?
 Setting injury reduction targets –
ultimate goal is always zero.
 Compliance targets – ultimate
goal is always 100%
 Acceptable performance
should be defined for all
metrics.
 Question is – are we improving?
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Timebound
% Complete
SETTING SAFETY TARGETS
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Safety Corrective Action
2009
2010
2011
Year
Target
2012
EXAMPLES OF SAFETY TARGETS
Who
What
When
Why
How
Senior
Managers
Injury Rates
Monthly
Injury Reduction Team
Meetings
Safety
Committee
Inspections
Quarterly
Legal
Compliance
Bulletinboards
Supervisors
Corrective
Actions
Weekly
Continuous
Improvement
Committees
HOW ARE WE DOING?
Good input but poor output
Good input and output
Mar
Apr
Jan
Feb
Jun
May
Poor input and output
Aug
Jul
Good output but poor input
Sept
Oct
BENCHMARKING
 Ongoing process of measuring one company's
safety performance against those recognized
as industry leaders.
 Serves as a measuring stick for the organization
by identifying those organizations that are
viewed as the best.
 Comparing ‘apples to apples’ can be
challenging (e.g. difference in calculations,
organizations)
TIPS FOR MEASURING SAFETY PERFORMANCE
 Define who, what , when, where, why and how
 Balance the scorecard – use leading and
lagging indicators
 Set targets and goals that align with the
organizations vision
 Report progress at all organizational levels
 Don’t forget to celebrate successes along the
way 
Recognizing a Strong Safety
Culture
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OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND
SAFETY CULTURAL MODEL
RECOGNIZING A STRONG SAFETY CULTURE
 Measuring the right things and strong safety culture
does not happen over night, but it can be
achieved.
 We need to focus on the right indicator, and not
get caught up on the lagging.
 We all can lead safety, we all can make a
difference.
Questions
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