Safety Performance Measurement, Auditing and Continuous Improvement
Safety Performance Measurement, Auditing, and Continuous Improvement
This domain tests how safety performance is measured, how audits are designed, and how findings become improvement rather than filing.
Core rules
- Lagging indicators measure outcomes: recordable cases, lost-time cases, TRIR, DART rate, and severity. TRIR = (number of recordable cases x 200,000) / total hours worked; DART uses days away, restricted, or transferred cases.
- Leading indicators measure prevention activity: hazard reports, inspection completion, corrective action closure on time, training competency, and audit findings closed with verified effectiveness.
- A balanced scorecard uses both. A low TRIR with rising near-miss reports and overdue actions may indicate underreporting or deteriorating controls.
- Audits should have defined criteria, competent auditors, sampling plans, and evidence. ISO 19011 provides audit principles; ISO 45001 requires internal audit and management review.
- Continuous improvement follows plan-do-check-act: set objectives, implement controls, monitor, and adjust.
- Comparisons across sites or industries require comparable exposure hours and reporting practices.
Worked example
A site records 3 recordable cases in 450,000 hours. TRIR = (3 x 200,000) / 450,000 = 1.33. The same site has 18 overdue corrective actions and a 40 percent drop in hazard reports. The low TRIR alone would suggest improvement, but the leading indicators suggest reporting suppression and backlog. The audit should sample incident reports against medical records and interview workers, and management review should resource closure rather than celebrate the rate.
Traps
- Using TRIR as the only measure of safety performance.
- Comparing rates without checking hours and recording criteria.
- Closing audit findings by document review without field verification.
- Auditing only documents and not observing work.