In our complex work environments, fostering a strong safety culture is becoming increasingly important. With the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) injury reporting deadline in March, organizations should take this time to evaluate their safety metrics. Key performance indicators (KPIs) serve as crucial measurement tools for comprehending, sustaining, and enhancing workplace safety.
Understanding Safety KPIs
Safety KPIs offer visibility into your organization’s safety performance. They enable the identification of workplace patterns and contribute to the implementation of necessary corrective measures to mitigate future risks.
These are some of the most important safety KPIs to keep an eye on:
- Reported Injuries: Monitoring all injuries, including those not officially recordable, provides a comprehensive understanding of workplace incidents. This broad approach helps organizations detect emerging safety patterns or underlying systemic problems.
- OSHA Recordables: These injuries must be documented in the OSHA log. They function as essential indicators for pattern recognition.
- Days away restricted time (DART) cases: These instances involve employees who missed work or operated under restricted or modified duty assignments.
- DART Rate: This calculation determines the number of recordable injuries and illnesses per 100 employees that resulted in work absence, activity restrictions, or job transfers. This rate serves as an indicator of your existing safety policy effectiveness.
- Total recordable case rate: This indicator compares reported safety incidents against workforce size and hours worked.
- Safety observations: The most valuable observations occur during workplace safety inspections when visible safety concerns can be identified. Proactive engagement with your work environment allows for hazard identification before injuries occur.
Advantages of Safety KPI Monitoring
Consistent tracking of the above metrics will have these benefits for your organization:
- Decreased workplace injuries and liabilities
- Maintained OSHA compliance
- Proactive identification of safety hazards and underlying issues
- Data-based decision-making
- Enhanced safety culture
Final Thoughts
As OSHA’s March deadline gets closer, take the initiative to review your safety KPIs and implement any missing metrics. This approach to data tracking will safeguard your employees while also creating a safer and more productive workplace.
Having this information readily available simplifies the process of making well-informed decisions.
Kevin Kolhonen, Health and Safety Manager