On Leading and Lagging Indicators

Many thousands of safety professionals are employed in organizations that use performance measurement systems such as the Balanced Score-card, Dashboards, Results-Based Management, Performance Prism, or others. Since it is important that they be perceived as members of the management team and participants in attaining management goals, they also have scorecards for safety and environmental performance. 

A Scorecard/Dashboard lists the elements of the Operational Risk Management System in place and numerical or alpha scores are applied to the elements, often resulting from audits. A color scheme may be applied to indicate the status of the Operational Risk Management System, such as  

On the Practice of Safety, Fourth Edition. Fred A. Manuele. 

Choosing appropriate leading and lagging indicators is not easy to do because the variables are so numerous and the data needed upon which sound decisions can be made may not be available. Also, agreement has not yet been reached, except in broad terms, on what is or is not a leading indicator. Discussions will be found in this chapter on  

ABOUT THE ORIGIN OF THE TERMS LEADING AND LAGGING INDICATORS 

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Thus, the MIT report prompted inquiry into the financial field. Economics-related literature on leading and lagging indicators is abundant. The following definitions are contained in selected Internet... 

Unfortunately, the literature on leading and lagging indicators does not provide as sound a reference base as a professional would desire. So, safety professionals must assess a given situation with respect to management expectations and the opportunities available as they propose what they consider to be a practicable leading and lagging indicator system within an atmosphere of uncertainty. 

While statistical and historical data are considered after the fact and are designated as lagging indicators in the literature on leading and lagging indicators, they do provide broad, macro, and meaningful measures of safety performance. Analyzing the incident data, professionally, will result in ... 

Contradictions in the related literature on what leading and lagging indicators are... 

Hopkins paper comments on two reports in which leading and lagging indicators are discussed ... 

For leading and lagging indicators, work with others in the organization to develop definitions suitable to the entity. Be sure to obtain consensus on the definitions. Try to avoid unproductive hassles over what is or is not a leading indicator or a lagging indicator. 

Chapter 24 in this book provides a detailed discussion on risk management audits. Such audits can produce both leading and lagging indicators if they properly seek shortcomings in risk management systems and relate directly to unacceptable risks that present potentials for the occurrence of serious injuries and fatalities and to the reality of accident experience. 

A review is given of the history, characteristics, and usage of leading and lagging indicators. Comments are made on how safety professionals can maneuver successfully in an organization in which they are expected to work with leading and lagging indicators. 

Monitoring process safety performance based on both leading and lagging indicators is central to ensuring business risks are being effectively managed ... 

All of these systemic morutoring and data collection activities are on-going to allow the analysis of HF risks over time. The combination of lead and lag indicators ensures that Airservices Australia is proactive in its review of HF risks. These proactive assessments facilitate the organization s capacity to identify, assess and manage HF risks through on-going reviews. 

Figure 11-2. The prokaryotic DNA replication fork. A schematic representation of semi-conservative replication of DNA by different mechanisms on the leading and lagging strands by DNA polymerase III (DNA pol III) is shown. Other enzymes and accessory proteins that participate in initiation, elongation, and ligation phases of the process are indicated, with DNA pol I depicted as having just dissociated from a completed Okasaki fragment. SSBs, single-stranded DNA binding proteins.

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