Establishing Key EHS Metrics: Best Practices for Safety Success

“If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.”

– Peter Drucker

The Need for Key EHS Metrics

An astounding number of companies fail to integrate consistent EHS practices into their operations. As a result, often find themselves scrambling to comply with an agency request, customer RFP or even a plaintiff’s demand. Establishing and tracking actionable metrics for EHS success is an area of challenge for many companies.

As the Peter Drucker quote highlights, knowing what is important and how to measure it, is the key to improvement. As another year ends, it brings home the need for accurately measuring their EHS programs.  While that sounds easy in principle, many companies lack the program visibility to effectively leverage metrics in their daily operations.  Establishing key EHS Metrics is critical to measuring and improving their program.

• Understanding the importance of EHS metrics
• Additional metrics for comprehensive EHS performance
• The role of data in driving EHS improvements
• Steps to enhance your EHS program through effective metrics

Managerial Alignment

There are already so many data points that management must juggle – from sales quotas to customer service benchmarks to financial performance. Adding more metrics may seem counterproductive. The only way to truly drive improvement throughout your company culture is to ensure that management is aligned on what is important and how to measure success.

Just like any other corporate strategy, EHS excellence depends on tone at the top. If executives have actionable metrics, then companies will see a reduction in risky behaviors and an enhanced EHS focused culture. 

Questions that Establish Key EHS Metrics

For EHS performance, do you know the answers to some basic questions about your company?

• What was your company’s Total Recordable Injury Rate (TRIR), number of lost workdays and number of days with employees on light duty?
• Do you know the number of site and equipment inspections done in the last 90 days?
• Do you know the most common deficiency found in these inspections?
• Do you know how many near misses were reported in the last year?
• Do you know how many injuries your company had last year by job type, and how many of those were OSHA recordable?

Preventable Re-occurrence of Incidents

There are many companies that can answer at least some of these questions and that may be fine for their business.

However, too many companies have no safety and compliance related metrics at all, while others only measure lagging indicators like injuries, penalties, and driver citations. While these are key metrics that every company should track, they only look in the “rearview mirror” and do very little to prevent reoccurrence or establish actionable improvement programs.

More sophisticated EHS programs also use leading indicators like training rates, near miss reporting, behavior observations and more to provide management with forward looking practices designed to prevent issues rather than just report them. 

Data Collection and Result Distribution

Companies that have a good handle on their data, benchmarks and trends, all use some type of software system to capture the information. The key is to make data collection and result distribution easy so as not to create an administrative roadblock.

Whether you use a software tool or have manual processes, there is no doubt that in order to drive improvement and sustain long-term compliance focus, you need to establish some key EHS metrics and communicate them with your team.  

If you set clear targets and have your team aligned, you can consistently leverage metrics to improve your EHS culture and performance that will drive value directly to your bottom line.  

Additional EHS Metrics to Consider

While maintaining our focus on establishing key EHS metrics, it’s worth considering a few additional metrics that can provide a more comprehensive view of your EHS performance:

1. Toolbox Talks Frequency: Regular safety meetings can significantly impact incident rates. Track how often these talks occur and their effectiveness.
2. Employee Participation: Measure the level of employee engagement in safety initiatives, such as attendance at safety meetings and completion of training courses.
3. Corrective Action Completion Velocity: Track how quickly identified issues are resolved to ensure timely risk mitigation.
4. Non-compliant PPE Use: Regular audits of proper PPE usage can highlight areas needing improvement in safety practices.
5. Safety Program Goal Setting: Measure how many workers set and achieve safety goals each month to foster a culture of continuous improvement.

Driving Success Through Strategic EHS Metrics

Establishing and tracking key EHS metrics is crucial for driving improvement in your organization’s safety culture and performance. By focusing on both lagging and leading indicators, ensuring managerial alignment, and leveraging data effectively, you can create a more proactive and successful EHS program. Remember, the goal is not just to collect data, but to use it to drive meaningful change and create a safer, healthier workplace for all employees.

Are you ready to take your EHS program to the next level? Contact EHS Momentum today to learn how we can help you establish and track the right metrics for your organization. Our expertise in EHS best practices can guide you towards a more effective, data-driven approach to workplace safety and compliance.