Not all Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) action plans are necessarily effective. It is therefore essential to put in place measures that are effective and that ensure a good return on investment. To do this, you can use OHS indicators and analyze the data obtained. So which indicators should be prioritized? How are they beneficial?

What are the performance indicators to consider?

We have listed for you the main indicators to determine the effectiveness of your occupational health and safety management.

• The frequency rate (FR): it is calculated using the ratio between the number of accidents with lost time of more than one day recorded by the company and the total hours worked by all employees. The hours worked can be 200,000 or 1,000,000. This indicator allows you to see if work accidents occur often or rarely. Thus, you could find the main sources and take corrective and preventive measures.
• The severity rate (SR): it is obtained by making the ratio between compensated days and 200,000 hours or 1,000,000 hours worked by employees. What results does it provide? It allows us to count the accidents, but in a more precise way. To do this, the segmentation can be more detailed. For example, the calculation can be done by categorizing workers into groups (age group, status, gender, etc.): full-time workers, women, older workers, etc. We can also classify them by type of accident. Thus, managers will have the opportunity to determine the most “at risk” employees.
• Comparative indicators: this one uses benchmarking. The concept is to compare one’s results to those of others. However, it is not about comparing yourself to just anyone! You need to determine which companies or departments are important and have similar goals to yours. Then calculate the differences between your results and theirs, by searching the CNESST statistics, for example. Note, however, that taking these indicators into account is only advisable to the extent that the differences are of great importance.
• The frequency index (FI): It is calculated by taking into account the number of accidents with lost time per 1,000 employees.

Why should you be interested in these indicators?

Setting up a dashboard and taking these indicators into account can take some time. So it’s critical to understand why these tools are important to your occupational health and safety management. Therefore, here are some important reasons why you must focus on these indicators:

• Measures results: it allows us to be able to situate ourselves in relation to our objectives. Each company, in fact, holds its expectations and sets up a determined goal. The indicators will therefore help you see if they have been achieved or not. For example, if your goal is to decrease to 5% the rate of accidents in the workplace for the elderly, the severity rate will allow you to measure any achievements and gaps.
• Easier decision making: as mentioned above, the existence of this data allows the company to trace the source of vulnerabilities and adjust accordingly. If, for example, you realize that 50% of workers who have suffered workplace injuries are new employees, you will know that it is more appropriate to invest in training rather than buying new PPE. Using indicators, therefore, allows you to implement more effective OHS measures.
• Establish a specific action plan: you will be able to have a picture of your actual situation. This would allow you to see if accidents are common and if there are high risks in certain workplaces. The information obtained will subsequently allow you to determine the employees at risk and thus prioritize certain actions.

How to achieve your OHS objectives?

Several elements can ruin the good results during a study of indicators such as a lack of information, ineffective training, poor communication, etc. So how do you ensure a healthier and safer workplace? In addition to establishing several performance indicators, why not choose more effective training? This will logically contribute to better occupational health and safety management.

Global Formation, through its online platform named PAELO, provides you with flexible training tailored to your needs. You target the priority people and our trainers will do the rest! Your employees will be able to identify the different risks existing in their sector of activity. Better yet, they will be informed on how to control them! They will learn at their own pace and at their own ease thanks to our LMS, which they can easily familiarize themselves with.

By applying what they learn on the job site, your workers will contribute to achieving your goal. Some time after the training, don’t hesitate to reuse the performance indicators to judge the effectiveness of the program. You will then know if it helped you reduce the accident rate, especially among trained or untrained employees. Moreover, if after the training, some employees continue to suffer accidents, you will be able to verify if it is not a lack of attention, but also a lack of will on their part.