At the heart of any successful business is a strong culture of security and compliance. And a smart, successful company uses available data to continually work to raise quality, health, safety and environmental standards.
OKRs and KPIs
Your objective and key results (OKRs) tell you where to go and whether you're there or not, while your key performance indicators (KPIs) measure and track your specific goals. KPIs are a very valuable tool for monitoring lagging or leading performance, and tracking them should be a crucial part of being an SMS manager.
Lagging indicators are used to track past incidents and help find the root of the problem. Leading indicators, on the other hand, are more predictive and help prevent and resolve potential problems and incidents.
KPIs provide good insight and real-time tracking of how your people, processes and tools behave. They help guide the next phase of development in the right direction. Use KPIs for real-time tracking and prepare your company for compliance (for ISO certifications and other regulations) at all times.
A good SMS KPI must be smart:
- Specific – it must be clear what should be measured
- Measurable – can be measured against established standards
- Achievable – must have a realistic goal
- Relevant – should provide valuable insights into overall QHSE performance
- Timely – must follow a defined deadline
Dig even deeper and learn how to set up, evaluate and prioritize SMS measures with a digital checklist.
Establish reliable SMS metrics
Developing reliable SMS metrics will largely depend on your company's goals and what you want to accomplish. Effectively measuring SMS KPIs will help you shape a healthy quality assurance and compliance culture.
Your SMS manager should monitor key metrics that show performance. Just because you are not reporting accidents does not necessarily mean your SMS operations are valid. Previous data cannot identify potential problems or hazards. Failure to record and report near misses and quick-fix solutions that have been implemented disrupts the bigger picture.
Learn how your SMS manager plays an important role in implementing your OKRs, KPIs and a comprehensive SMS policy.
What essential metrics to track
Track reported incidents and accidents, near misses, routine safety audits and inspections, corrective actions, employee training, employee well-being and expenses.
Accidents and incidents are your lagging indicators and provide a high-level reference for your HSE department. The law also requires them for workplace accidents as “reportable” injuries for most European workplaces.
Near misses
“Near miss” incidents are often ignored and their data is massively misrepresented in many companies. Reporting and recording near-misses and reviewing the mitigation strategies used can go a long way toward preventing potential hazards. Employee participation is vital in tracking near misses. Give the same level of priority to reporting near misses and create strategies that incentivize or reward your employees when providing feedback.
Routine safety audits and inspections
Make sure to keep track of your reviews and checks monthly, quarterly, or annually. Regularly auditing work processes and workflows is a vital part of due diligence at the start of a project. Archive your completed audits and inspections and note who completed them to help you track changes and accountability.
Corrective actions
Any corrective action on any issue, no matter how small, needs to be reported. Identifying, fixing, and monitoring issues allows you to detect patterns that may arise from similar incidents or troubleshoot related issues.
Employee Training
Monitoring your employees' training records, although an overlooked task, is important for keeping you compliant and demonstrates leadership and employee engagement, which shows a proactive approach to company-wide quality and SMS efforts. Keeping your employees updated and aware of all company procedures and policies increases engagement levels and consolidates a culture of safety.
Welfare of employees
Employee well-being is fundamental to a corporate SMS strategy. Track absence rates and days lost due to health issues and determine sick leave and temporary staff pay. Also measure presenteeism (loss of productivity that occurs when an employee works sick and performs below standard).
Spending
Don't forget to track how much you spend on health and safety and related initiatives.
As mentioned previously, developing and establishing reliable SMS metrics largely depends on your company's goals and what it wants to accomplish.
On the other hand, effectively measuring your HSE KPIs helps shape a healthy QHSE culture. To create and maintain a construction site free of injuries or property damage, it's up to you to develop your OKRs and KPIs and how vigilant you are to continually monitor them.
