Performance trailing indicator

To close the loop in the safety and health management system, periodic assessment and feedback are necessary. Indicators should be chosen that can assess the overall performance of the laboratory with respect to safety and health. Whenever possible, leading indicators such as behavioral observations should be measured and reviewed, as well as trailing indicators such as the type and number of injuries and illnesses and loss of working time. The purpose of this assessment is to determine the overall effectiveness of the safety and health management system and to correct any areas of deficiency. 

At the Professional Development Conference held by the American Society of Safety Engineers in June 2002, there were at least three sessions pertaining to leading indicators. Speakers and writers say that this new form of measurement is offered as a response to the dissatisfaction some safety practitioners have expressed concerning the use of what they say are trailing indicators — OSHA statistics, costs — as the sole measure of safety performance. 

Some authors have said that trailing indicators—incident statistics, costs — are valueless as performance indicators. Newell does not support that view. In his speech outline, he says, Trailing measures not only gage performance, but are critical for S H management system improvement... 

Very early in life people discover experience is a good teacher. This idea also applies to safety and health. Understanding what happened in incidents and why they occurred can lead to preventive actions for similar situations. Records of incidents offer reactive strategies to improve safety performance. They are trailing indicators of performance. Many organizations also compile data on leading indicators of safety performance. Leading indicators measure actions that can prevent incidents. Chapter 35 will explore both types of metrics further. 

Chapter 3 discussed the differences between reactive approaches and proactive approaches to achieving safety. Trailing indicators usually form the basis for reactive approaches. Leading indicators offer an opportunity for proactive approaches for improving safety performance. Very often leading indicators fit within the language of business management. 

Trailing indicators are the traditional metrics that measure past safety efforts (Dupont Corporation 2000). When using trailing indicators, data is collected after the fact (after a number of accidents or illnesses, after two years of workers compensation, etc.). Trailing indicators provide an organization with feedback in terms of how good performance has been over a period of time. Examples of trailing indicators include accident records, loss reports, injury and illness statistics, injury costs, and workers compensation costs. 

Examples of leading indicators include measures of the quality of an audit program, including schedule adherence, the number of repeat injuries, and analysis of process hazard reviews. As with trailing indicators, there must be some type of cause and effect relationship established between leading indicators and safety performance. 

For example, reducing the dependence on TCIR as the trailing indicator by using performance level metrics. 

In order to be measure safety performance a consistent set of terms and reporting standards is required. In the area of occupational safety, considerable standardization has already been achieved through the use of measures such as the number of first aid cases or recordable injmies. Although different organizations will apply these terms slightly differently from one another, there is sufficient consensus to allow for their use across broad swathes of industry. These data are referred to as lagging or trailing indicators. 

Audit trails refer to a journal that records modifications to electronic records. The persons or automated processes operating on the user s behalf may perform these modifications. The audit-trail mechanism provides the capability to reconstruct the data prior to a modification, and therefore must not obscure the previously recorded data. The tracking mechanism must include a computer-generated time stamp that indicates the time of the entry. Audit trails are computer generated and can be part of the record that has been modified or a standalone record linked to the modified record. 

An audit trail is a journal recording any modifications carried out by the users, or by the processes operating on behalf of the user, to the electronic records. This mechanism provides the capability to reconstruct modified data and must not obscure the previously entered data. The tracking mechanism includes adding computer-generated date and time stamps to the record, to indicate when the record was modified, the types of modifications performed, and the identity of the person performing the modification to the record. 

The end goal is achieving safe workplaces and reducing injuries. There may be studies to link training and safety performance through leading and trailing safety indicators. 

Leading versus Trailing Safety Performance Indicators... 

Chapter 35 discussed differences between leading and trailing safety performance indicators. 

There are many ways to categorize safety performance measures. They are often classified as trailing or leading indicators, outcome or process oriented, results or activity-based measures, downstream factors or upstream factors, and/or qualitative or quantitative metrics. 

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