By Bob Lapidus, CSP (Retired), CSMS
In the field of safety, we often establish goals. What are our plans for the coming year?
Typically, there are two types of goals:
- Loss Results or Trailing Indicators (our organization’s loss results – hopefully none)
- Activities or Leading Indicators (what are we actually doing to prevent loss results – hopefully lots of good things)
Loss Results
Based upon our current losses, we can establish loss frequency- and severity- reduction goals. One the more effective type of loss result is obtained by creating loss injury and severity rates. Rates establish a risk exposure that permits us to compare how we are doing now to how we did in the past by comparing how much work was done now and in the past. Our employees could be working more or less hours which could affect the number of incidents that are sustained.
Examples of incidents that could be counted:
- Occupational injuries
- Occupational illnesses
- Vehicle accidents
- Liability claims
- Property damage
- Theft
- Employment claims
We would create frequency or incident rates that balance out the actual numbers. Our goal would be to reduce the rate by having less losses.
Using hours worked gives us a degree of risk exposure. For example, the OSHA Incident rate allows us to compare this year with other years based on the greater or lesser number of hours that our employees are working. Usually the more hours that our employees work means more time or risk to get hurt.
The OSHA Incident Rate = # of incidents X 200,000
Actual Productive Hours Worked
200,000 = 100 employees working 2000 hours per year.
The incident rate therefore is defined as:
The number of incidents for every 100 employees
Incidents can be:
- The total number of all incidents
- Just lost time cases
- Medical only
Example:
- All OSHA Recordables = 35
- Actual Productive Hours Worked = 450,000
OSHA Incident Rate = 35 X 200,000 = 15.56
450,000 recordables for every 100 employees
We would establish goals to reduce loss severity. Our goal would be to reduce each incident’s severity by ensuring our employees are wearing the right personal protective equipment and using the established procedures for each task. We would work with the claims people to ensure they work with our employees to get them back to work in the most efficient, safe and healthy manner.
We would create severity rates. Rates provide a way for the employer to balance the results based upon exposure, in this case
OSHA Severity Rate = # of Days Lost X 200,000
Actual Productive Hours Worked
200,000 = 100 employees working 2000 hours per year.
The severity rate therefore is defined as:
The number of days lost for every 100 employees
Example:
- # of Days Lost = 125
- Actual Productive Hours Worked = 450,000
OSHA Severity Rate = 125 X 200,000 = 55.56
450,000 days lost for every 100 employees
COMPARE AN ORGANIZATION’S LOSSES TO THE LOSSES DURING A SIMILAR TIME PERIOD USING THE VARIABLES NOTED ABOVE
Example: Occupational Injuries & Illnesses
| Count | Incident Rate | Severity Rate | ||||
|
|
2019 |
2018 |
2019 |
2018 |
2019 |
2018 |
| Preventable | 65 | 70 | 17.14 | 19.43 | 34.28 | 57.14 |
| Non-Preventable | 10 | 15 | 2.55 | 4.10 | 13.00 | 31.90 |
| Total | 75 | 85 | – – – | – – – | – – – | – – – |
Decide to reduce the loss rates by a percentage.
Activity-related results could be compared as follows:
|
Activity |
2018 |
2019 |
+/- |
% Change |
| 1. Inspections | 6 | 12 | +6 | +100% |
| 2. New employee safety orientation | 2 | 6 | +4 | +200% |
| 3. Safety meetings | 3 | 12 | +9 | +300% |
| 4. Distribution of contractor safety packages | 3 | 43 | +40 | +1333% |
| 5. Back injury control training | 1 | 2 | +1 | +100% |
| 6. Hazard Communication right-to-known training |
2 |
5 |
+3 |
+150% |
| 7. Defensive driver training | 2 | 3 | +1 | +50% |
| 8. Emergency earthquake and fire drills |
1 |
2 |
1 |
+100% |
| 9. Incident investigations | 23 of 80 incidents
29% |
35 of 75 incidents
47% |
– – – |
+18% |
| 10. Ergonomic workstation assessments |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
| 11. Audiometric tests | 81 | 78 | -3 | -3.7% |
Once an organization commences to establish goals, documents both the trailing (result) and leading (activity) indicators, and analyzes the results, management and fellow team members can initiate the planning, organizing and controlling of actions to enhance the current safety effort.
* * * * *
For More Information:
Go to www.safetycenter.org for more information about Safety Center’s Safety Management Specialist Certificate.
After completing this nine-day program, graduates may take the exam to achieve the Certified Safety Management Specialist (CSMS) designation. Recipients of the CSMS receive a beautiful plaque and become part of an elite group of safety specialists who have achieved this recognition. Once this certification is attained, successful candidates keep it for the rest of their lives without any additional requirements or fees.