As the workplace continues to become more dynamic, maintaining a healthy safety culture is more important than ever. As we inch closer toward the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) injury tracking deadline in March, now is the time for your organization to review your safety metrics. Key performance indicators (KPIs) are invaluable systems of measurement for understanding, maintaining, and, most importantly, improving workplace safety.
What are safety KPIs?
Safety KPIs are measurements which provide insights into your workplace’s safety performance. They allow you to identify trends within your workplace and implement the corrective actions needed to prevent potential risks in the future.
Here are some important safety KPIs to monitor:
- Reported injuries: Tracking all injuries, regardless of them being recordable, will provide a holistic view of workplace incidents. By adopting this overarching approach, it allows organizations to identify emerging safety trends or systemic issues.
- OSHA recordables: These are injuries that must be reported on the OSHA log. These serve as a key metric for comparing safety performance identifying patterns.
- Days away restricted time (DART) cases: These represent cases where an employee either missed work or was on restricted or light work duty.
- DART rate: This rate is a calculation of the number of recordable injuries and illnesses per 100 employees, which resulted in days away from work, restricted work activity, and/or job transfer. DART rate is important because it can help indicate how effective your company’s current safety polices are.
- Total recordable case rate: This KPI compares the number of safety incidents reported against the number of workers present and the hours worked.
- Safety observations: The most important observations are made during site safety walks, where visible safety issues can be discovered. By being proactive and involved in your work site, you can identify potential hazards before an injury occurs.
Benefits of tracking safety KPIs
By keeping track of the KPIs above, you can expect to see these advantages:
- Reduced workplace injuries and liabilities
- Ensured OSHA compliance
- Early identification of safety hazards and systemic issues
- Data to help drive decision-making
- Improved safety culture amongst your organization
Conclusion
As OSHA’s March deadline approaches, take proactive steps to review your safety KPIs and add any that are missing. By being proactive and tracking this data, you in turn will help keep your employees safe and create a healthier and more productive workplace.
By having this data, you are just making it easier to make informed decisions.
