New Resource Helps Improve Health And Safety Programs

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has launched a new resource on its website devoted to helping businesses better their safety and health programs. 

“Leading Indicators” helps to track dangerous conditions and events at the workplace that can be seen as problematic and a potential cause of injury or illness. Packaged in an 18 page downloadable guide, this resource offers suggestions for preventative measures that a business can institute.

“Many employers are familiar with lagging indicators. Lagging indicators measure the occurrence and frequency of events that occurred in the past, such as the number or rate of injuries, illnesses, and fatalities,” says OSHA on its website. “While lagging indicators can alert you to a failure in an area of your safety and health program or to the existence of a hazard, leading indicators are important because they can tell you whether your safety and health activities are effective at preventing incidents. A good safety and health program uses leading indicators to drive change and lagging indicators to measure effectiveness.”

If correctly used, leading indicators can help prevent workplace injury or illness, reduce the costs of those incidents, improve organizational performance and raise worker participation, according to OSHA.