I’m working on a webinar for next week about safety metrics. If you are familiar with my work or my posts, you know that I am a fan of keeping things simple. As I work on my slides, I keep coming back to the same phrase, which was taught to me over 11 years ago by my then boss, Pete Filanc. I can hear him saying it, “what gets measured gets done!” Pete was a person who kept things simple too. He was a brilliant man, and a one-of-a-kind person to work for. I think of him almost daily as I go about my work in safety and risk control consulting, and he wasn’t even a “safety guy!”
What gets measured gets done.
When evaluating your company’s leading indicators and measurements you use to understand if you’re being successful in safety, think about the following:
1. What safety activities are required for supervisors?
2. Are these activities a part of supervisors’ evaluations for compensation and/or bonuses?
3. How do the supervisors know they are successfully completing the activities listed in #1?
By measuring safety activities required of supervisors and linking them directly to an existing evaluation program that determines compensation and/or bonus, you WILL get your supervisors’ attention! If there are new safety activities or responsibilities that your company has recently rolled out and they are falling flat, answer the three questions. Be honest. Are you measuring what you want done?
I will go into greater detail on this and other leading and lagging indicators and safety metrics next Tuesday, August 26, in a webinar presented in partnership with BLR. More information is at this link. Use code SPEAKFREE at checkout to register for the webinar for free. Let me know if I’ll “see” you at the webinar in the comments.