Do You Have a Scoreboard?

The only thing more amazing to me than the number of programs organizations adopt to improve safety, is the fact that the majority don’t have a metric to determine if the program worked or not.  

Using lagging indicators to measure the effectiveness of a new safety program is fraught with inaccuracies.  So many factors impact TRIR and severity rates that one new program might or might not have had an impact.  Add to that fact the concept of Hawthorne Effect (that any focus of effort might impact results short term) and you have a totally unreliable metric of program success.

First, all programs should fit into an overarching safety strategy.  Second, the program should have internal KPIs to determine if it is doing what it is designed to do.  Third, the organization should have intermediate indicators to determine if the program is changing perceptions and organizational behavior.  Lastly, there should be a division of lagging indicators into categories directly impacted by the program to see if they are responding to the combination of program impact, changes in perceptions and behavior, and if the costs of the program create an ROI worthy of the effort.

-Terry L. Mathis

For more insights, visit www.ProActSafety.com

Terry L. Mathis is the founder and CEO of ProAct Safety, an international safety and performance excellence firm. He is known for his dynamic presentations in the fields of behavioral and cultural safety, leadership, and operational performance, and is a regular speaker at ASSE, NSC, and numerous company and industry conferences. EHS Today listed Terry as a Safety Guru in ‘The 50 People Who Most Influenced EHS in 2010, 2011 and 2012-2013. He has been a frequent contributor to industry magazines for over 15 years and is the coauthor of STEPS to Safety Culture Excellence, 2013, WILEY.