Measuring performance
Active and reactive measures
Performance is measured in two directions. Active (proactive, leading) measures tell you what you are doing to control risk before anything goes wrong: inspections, safety tours, audits, safety climate surveys, training completion, maintenance and statutory examination compliance, occupational hygiene sampling, near-miss reporting rates, and the proportion of risk-assessment actions closed on time. Reactive (lagging) measures tell you what has already happened: accidents and injuries, work-related ill health, near misses, property damage, environmental releases, complaints, enforcement notices and civil claims.
Both are needed. A site with an excellent accident record may simply be under-reporting, or may be lucky; a site with good active measures is investing in the future.
Audit versus inspection is a favourite exam distinction. An audit examines the management system - policies, procedures, records, arrangements and whether they are being followed. An inspection looks at physical conditions and behaviours on site on a given day.
To compare sites or years, use rates rather than raw numbers, for example: accident incidence rate = (number of accidents / number of workers) x 100,000. Targets and key performance indicators should be SMART - specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound - and results should be reviewed by management, benchmarked and fed back into the plan.
Traps: classifying a safety inspection as a reactive measure; treating an accident rate as proactive; comparing raw accident counts between sites of very different sizes; assuming a zero-accident record proves low risk.
Rule of thumb: measure both what you are doing to control risk and what is happening to people.