Safety Analytics: The Future of Workforce Safety and Health

Hohn, Todd ; Duden, Dave
(Vendor)

What Is Safety Analytics? Safety analytics is an emerging science that is helping to drive improvements not only in workforce safety and health programs, but also in overall business performance. Deloitte Consulting, a leading practitioner in this field, defines safety analytics as “the science of studying the underlying causes of and contributing factors to workplace accidents.” On the surface, that may sound similar to what top workforce safety and health professionals have done all along. But what’s new — facilitated by software tools and systems like PureSafety’s — is the amount and range of data that can be analyzed. For example, part of what distinguishes safety analytics from past practices is the use of external data (demographics, lifestyle indicators, industry financial data, etc.), as well as traditional historical and observed data. Among other benefits, this approach helps to ensure that human variables are appropriately weighted in identifying risk and taking appropriate preventive actions. Combined with the growing use of leading indicators, leveraging safety analytics gives you a more complete, and more current, picture of everything from specific work processes and locations up to the health of your safety culture in general. This, in turn, leads to a more targeted, proactive allocation of available resources and opens the path to continuous improvement in critical areas, including: • Workplace accidents and injuries • Compliance • Productivity • ROI on safety expenditures • Employee satisfaction, morale, loyalty and retention • Absenteeism • Product/material damage • Managerial efficiency and effectiveness • Corporate reputation

Back to SESHA 33rd Annual Symposium/SIA IHTESH Joint Meeting (2011)