7 Health and Safety Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) Every Department Should Track

Workplace health and safety key performance indicators are metrics you can use to measure progress and performance of health and safety. Just like any other area of operations, a successful company makes use of the data available to continuously improve their standards in health and safety.

A strong safety culture is achieved by following a definitive checklist of indicators to measure performance. This blog will underline several key performance indicators (KPIs) to track specific objectives, to help monitor health and safety culture and performance.

What Are Key Performance Indicators?

KPI's are a valuable way of monitoring lagging or leading performance. Tracking them is an integral part of any Safety Manager role.

While lagging indicators can be used to track incidents that have occurred (past data) and assist in sourcing the root of the problem, leading indicators are more predictive by nature. They help companies address and prevent potential issues and incidents from occurring in the first place.

What Are Health and Safety Key Performance Indicators?

Health and Safety KPIs are quantifiable measures used to evaluate an organisation’s performance in terms of maintaining a safe and healthy workplace. These indicators help track and assess various aspects of occupational health and safety, allowing organisations to identify areas of concern, set goals, and drive continuous improvement. They generally revolve around monitoring incidents, compliance, training, risk assessments, and other key factors related to employee well-being.

Characteristics of Health and Safety Performance KPIs

A good performance indicator is part of the ‘S.M.A.R.T’ Goal KPI model:

• Specific – it should be clear what is being measured
• Measurable – it should be measurable against set standards
• Achievable – target a realistic/achievable goal
• Relevant – it should offer insight into overall safety performance
• Timely – KPI’s should follow a set timeframe.

Like other business units, Health and Safety departments are no exception to tracking key metrics that show performance.

While you may not report any accidents, this doesn’t necessarily mean you can become complacent and assume that your safety operations are effective. Developing reliable health and safety metrics will largely depend on your goals and what you want to accomplish. Effectively measuring health and safety KPI’s will help you on your way to achieving a robust safety culture.

7 KPIs for Health and Safety In the Workplace

Reported Accidents/Incidents

This first point should be taken as a given – a lagging indicator in its most obvious form. However, it really does provide the health and safety department with a high-level benchmark. It is required by law for work-related accidents resulting in a 'reportable' injury, for most UK workplaces under Reporting of Injuries, Diseases, and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) rules.

Not only is it a legal responsibility, analysing reported accidents allows organisations to identify potential gaps and failures in their management of risks in their workplace, which will help them to put measures in place to ensure it doesn't happen again.

Reporting Near Misses

As already mentioned, a hugely misrepresented area for many organisations is the reporting near-miss incidents. Doing your health and safety due diligence, effectively reporting near misses and reviewing the mitigating strategies go a long way to preventing potential disasters. But how will anyone know of the success in this area if it’s not being tracked?

Tracking near misses involves employee participation. Ensure the proper reporting channels are in place to give near-miss incidents the same level of priority as actual incidents. Remember to encourage employees to feedback without fear of punitive action actively.

Near misses are just as important as accidents themselves, and should be treated in the same manner. They are insights into how safety measures may not be correct or sufficient and can help you find weaknesses. Identifying these weaknesses and correcting them will reduce accidents in turn.

Safety Audits and Inspections

Are you keeping track of the number of audits and inspections undertaken across the business on a monthly/quarterly/annual basis?

Routine auditing of work processes is an essential part of due diligence ahead of starting a job. Keep count of completed audits and inspections and note who meets them to help you keep track of changes in standards. We have covered the main differences between Inspections and Audits previously as businesses often struggle with differentiating between the two.

Corrective Actions

While fixing issues is advisable, it’s not enough to fix them and not report them. Identifying, fixing and tracking problems will help you to identify patterns arising within the workplace from similar incidents. It will also assist in resolving similar issues more efficiently and help hold employees accountable for the part their actions played in a given situation.

Employee Training

The relevant health and safety training for all staff, at all levels, within any organisation, is paramount to establishing good practices. The IOSH Managing Safely course is utilised by organisations across the globe to demonstrate the importance of environmental health and safety to employees and consequentially increase engagement in health and safety.

In addition, ensuring that employees are aware of all your company’s procedures and policies is essential for creating a safety culture and raising engagement levels. That's why it's essential Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) professionals learn how to communicate.

Keeping track of employee training records is vital to keeping you compliant and demonstrates a proactive approach to company-wide health and safety efforts. Training certificates must not expire for many businesses, so this key metric cannot be overlooked.

Let’s Not Forget the ‘H’

More and more, we see the re-introduction of the ‘Health’ element of health and safety programmes, which have historically overlooked this critical area. 

While seemingly a new buzzword, employee well-being is a hugely important area of any corporate health and safety strategy. But which metrics should you track here?

Consider absence rates and any changes therein. Calculate days lost due to ill-health and determine the amount paid in sick leave and temporary staffing. Presenteeism (the lost productivity from an employee working when ill and performing below standard) should also be measured.

The Centre for Mental Health concluded that the cost of presenteeism to a UK business is likely to be 1.8 times as important as absenteeism. Employers should expect 1 in 6 of their workforce to be adversely affected by depression, anxiety or other mental health conditions. 

Spend

No different to any other department, you will need to track your spending in health and safety on the various initiatives outlined above to report back to superiors and ultimately improve the ‘bottom line’.

There are many more KPIs you can measure in health and safety and we have developed our courses to ensure you know exactly how to track your progress as an organisation.

How Can Organisations Improve Health and Safety Performance Using KPIs?

The feedback arising from key OHS metrics will help in motivating leaders and are crucial to maintaining safety management systems. Measuring KPIs will allow you to engage in conversations with employees about where you can improve health and safety. This can be a difficult process to start which is why have compiled a list of our best tips for increasing Work Involvement in Safety & Health (WISH).

For organisations looking to deliver on these KPI's, the IOSH Managing Safely course below is a fantastic course to help employees understand the importance of health and safety, and their responsibilities in the workplace.