Why LEAD indicators allow you to elevate your health and safety organisation

By Steve Williams AMBCI, MIIRSM, Managing Director, BCarm

1 in 2 businesses say they don’t have safety performance metrics in place that allow them to measure and manage workplace safety every month*.

Given the potential consequences of safety not performing, why wouldn’t you want to know how you are performing, and if you do, how would you go about it?

Why are LEAD indicators so important?

Health and safety differ from many management disciplines because success results in the absence of an outcome (injuries or ill health). But a low injury frequency is no guarantee that risks are being controlled and will not lead to injuries or ill health in the future. 

This type of data is a LAG indicator, telling us what has already happened. Whilst important measures, they don’t allow us to influence our safety environment. It’s a REACTIVE indicator. This is why LEAD indicators are so important, they tell us where issues could arise so we can take pre-emptive action; they are PROACTIVE indicators.

What’s a LEAD Indicator

These are 2 types;

• A level of activity that needs to happen as part of our safety organisation, e.g. How many Risk Assessments are proactively monitored in a given period against a monitoring regime? 
• The performance of that activity within our safety organisation, e.g. How many of the control measures defined in a Risk Assessment are in operation and being complied with?

So, why isn’t LEAD indicator reporting the norm?

A significant factor can be data capture, and the time it takes, particularly in paper-based or electronic systems. Software, like BCarm, can provide a solution, providing it produces LEAD performance data and not just workflow, document management, or task scheduling. 

Watch our on-demand webinar on how to transform your health and safety with LEAD metrics. In the webinar, we cover:-

• How can performance metrics make a difference to health and safety?
• Getting ahead of the curve with LEAD indicators
• What LEAD indicators you might want to look at.
• Using metrics to create visibility, accountability, and engagement.

Watch now.

*BCarm Survey