If you can’t define it, you can’t measure it. If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it. If you can’t manage it, you leave it to chance and safety is not something employers can afford to leave to chance.
Step 1: Safety goals should always be SMART: S–Specific M–Measurable A–Achievable R–Realistic T–Time Bound
Step 2: Develop a safety program and then establish benchmarks and track its success over time.
Step 3: Stay away from safety goals that will encourage employees to not report accidents.
Step 4: Use a best practices safety measurement. One example is a company’s accident incidence level. That level is tallied by multiplying the number of accidents by 200,000 and then dividing that number by the total employee work hours.
Step 5: Reasonable, yet challenging, goals should be set. Typical safety goals may include:
- Achieving a reduction in lost-time injuries over a certain time period
- Regular and active participation in a safety committee
- Reaching monthly, quarterly, or yearly accident free time periods
- Developing an action plan to eliminate a hazard
- Conducting regular safety audits or/or safety training presentations
- Achieving or improving results on a safety inspection
- Documenting and reporting unsafe conditions from employees
Step 6: To focus results on Workers Compensation costs, review the Loss Ratio (the ratio of losses paid out versus premiums paid in) which can be obtained from a loss run. There are two ways to keep your Loss Ratio low: 1) decrease the FREQUENCY of accidents, and 2) decrease the SEVERITY of an injury when it occurs.
Step 7: Develop, publish, and disseminate the safety goals to all employees.
Step 8: Monitor and communicate results to all levels of the organization.
For more information or to obtain a safety goal planning template, please contact Linda Rees-Murray at The Flanders Group by calling 800-462-6435.