Effective health and safety practices enhance the sustainability of your company. How? By reducing time lost to workplace accidents and ensuring efficient practices for maximum productivity. By identifying and controlling risks, health and safety can cut costs in wasted resources as well as minimizing pollution hazards. But how do you know whether your occupational health and safety measures match up to performance sustainability goals?
In order to get a clear picture of your occupational health and safety – and measure its success in practice – you’ll need to record data on workplace incident management, which you can then translate into meaningful key performance indicators (KPIs).
These indicators provide valuable insight into whether you should implement safety precautions, and if so, how and where. What’s more, well-structured KPIs can also support your arguments when setting out your case to management for specific investment. The question is, which KPIs will reveal the most about your health and safety strategy?
how to choose your KPIs?
The table below shows commonly collected incident management data that can be used as a basis for KPIs. The right-hand column contains example values from a sample company, Controbax, which we will use in calculations a little later on.
incident management data | Controbax, February 2021 |
total accidents | 7 |
lost-time injury (LTI) | 6 |
injury without lost time | 1 |
lost workdays due to injury | 54 |
lost working hours due to injury | 426 |
near-misses | 20 |
proactive observations (e.g. safe behavior according to Behavior-Based Safety) | 73 |
number of reporting persons | 35 |
In order to ensure greater comparability, some data is more meaningful when it is placed in context and standardized where necessary. As a result, the calculations for many KPIs based on incident management data use the following basic structure:
KPI = Incident management data ÷ Reference value x Standardization factor
We therefore also need some reference values to calculate incident management KPIs. Examples include:
reference value | Controbax, February 2021 |
normal workdays | 20 |
workers | 342 |
normal working hours | 49,248 |
normal working hours worked | 47,842 |
overtime hours worked | 2,312 |
total hours worked | 50,228 |
lost workdays | 185 |
lost working hours | 1,406 |
To help you select the most meaningful KPIs for your organization, below is a list of national and international KPIs that work well in practice. We have also included a selection of modern KPIs used in proactive occupational health and safety strategies such as Behavior-Based Safety and Safety II. Under each KPI, we have provided the formula, sample calculations, and examples of its strengths and drawbacks.
lost workdays per worker
The number of lost workdays per worker shows the total number of working days lost due to injury in relation to the number of workers.
- Formula:Lost workdays per worker = Lost workdays ÷ Total workers
- Sample calculation: Controbax employed 342 workers in February. There was a total of 54 lost workdays. Therefore, 54 ÷ 342 = 0.16 lost workdays per worker
Notes on lost workdays per worker as a KPI
This KPI can only be used as a basic measurement tool to obtain an average number of working days lost per worker. It also does not take into account actual hours worked, which means that it can give false impressions when compared with other companies or even previous years’ figures from the same company if there are significant differences in actual hours worked.
observation-to-incident ratio
Once you have established a safety culture and adopted a more proactive approach to occupational health and safety, you should look to expand your focus. Instead of concentrating solely on incidents that result in injuries, consider and learn from other reports to improve your EHS activities. The observation-to-incident ratio shows incidents that did not lead to injuries (e.g. observed near-misses, hazards, positive behavior and safety initiatives) as a proportion of all reports. It can help to assess the current situation and encourage employees to engage proactively.
Observation rate:Near-misses
According to Heinrich’s accident triangle, for every 300 unsafe situations there are 29 accidents with minor injuries such as a cut or gash, and 1 serious accident such as a broken bone or fatality. In the context of incident management, however, just because there have not been any injuries reported does not mean that there have not been any unsafe situations. Instead, motivate your employees to observe and report all near-misses so that as many unsafe situations as possible can be proactively investigated and suitable safeguards put in place. A sensible use of the observation rate is therefore to measure how committed your employees are to reporting unsafe situations.
- Formula:Observation rate = Unsafe situations ÷ (Unsafe situations + Accidents) x 100
- Sample calculation: At Controbax, 20 unsafe situations were reported in February. Taking into account 4 severe accidents and 3 minor accidents, we can calculate the observation rate as 20 ÷ (20+7) x 100 = 74%. We can therefore see that a relatively high number of near-misses are reported at Controbax – which the company can learn from. When it comes to determining a target observation rate, it is worth referring back to the accident triangle: 300 ÷ (300+30) x 100% = 90.9%
As a result, there is certainly room for Controbax to improve its observation rate, perhaps by encouraging its employees to be even more proactive in observing and reporting incidents. Ultimately, a more proactive approach reduces the likelihood of accidents.
observation rate: proactive observations
Modern safety-focused workplace cultures already have a focus on reporting near-misses. Bearing this in mind, it may be more helpful to focus on examples of best practice, safety initiatives and potential risks rather than a negative incident sometime in the past. Behavior-Based Safety (BBS) initiatives and concepts such as Safety II motivate employees to observe safe behavior and share information on ideas and processes that work well. An observation rate – such as the proportion of observations reported proactively – is an excellent way to measure the efficacy of such programs.
- Formula:Observation rate = Proactive observations ÷ (Unsafe situations + Accidents + Proactive observations) x 100
- Sample calculation: Controbax launched a BBS initiative in January 2021. One team’s employees reported 73 instances of safe behavior in February. They also reported 20 unsafe situations and 7 accidents. The company’s observation rate is therefore calculated as follows: 73 ÷ (73+20+7) x 100% = 73%. This KPI shows that 73% of incident management reports were proactive observations (as opposed to reactive observations) – an encouraging result. As its safety culture grows and matures, Controbax can define long-term goals and target a 100% observation rate. As accidents become less common over time, it might become more sensible to shift towards an accident-free “vision zero” approach
Notes on observation rates
The specific formula is not essential when it comes to observation rates, as there are other ways of displaying data. One alternative would be to use an area chart, as shown below. This chart was generated in the AMCS EHS Management software. In addition to the overall view, hovering over the area chart also displays monthly observation rates for proactive and reactive reports.
engagement rate
The engagement rate makes clear how many different people actively participate in incident management. You can use this to determine the percentage of workers who have reported an incident or observation within a specific time frame.
- Formula:Engagement rate = (Reporting persons ÷ Total workers) x 100
- Sample calculation: In February 2021, Controbax started a project to promote safe behavior in the workplace. Reporting observations of safe behavior was a key element of this. The breakdown of workers filing reports is as follows:
- In this program, which focuses on the Behavior-Based Safety (BBS) concept, a team of 15 workers submitted a total of 73 observations of safe behavior. Persons filing reports = 15
- In addition, there were 20 near-misses reported throughout the company, of which 7 reports were filed by people within the BBS program and 13 by other workers. Other persons filing reports = 13
- 6 of the 7 accident reports were made by other workers not yet counted. Other persons filing reports = 6
- 15 + 13 + 6 = 34 employees actively engaged with incident management.
The company has a total of 342 employees, so we can calculate the engagement rate for February as 34 ÷ 342 x 100% = 9.94%
Notes on engagement rate
Engagement rates are a particularly important indicator as they help us to understand developments in workers’ willingness to report incidents and observations. A consistently low engagement rate might indicate that you need to work on your failure culture or make your incident-reporting processes more straightforward. How easy is it for your employees to file reports? Do they understand the value of reporting failures – not only to improve safety but to support the company’s development? Falling engagement rates, on the other hand, often indicate that EHS specialists and management have failed to provide feedback after processing reports.
health rate
The health rate depicts the relationship between the number of working hours lost due to accidents and normal working hours. It shows the proportion of work capacity lost due to health issues among your company’s employees within an evaluation period – or, conversely, the proportion of work capacity actually performed by healthy employees.
- Formula:Health rate = 100 – ((Lost working hours due to accidents ÷ Normal working hours) x 100)
- Sample calculation: Controbax had a workforce of 342 employees in February 2021. They could have worked a theoretical total of 49,248 normal working hours, but a total of 426 hours were lost due to accidents. We can therefore calculate the company’s health rate as follows: 100 – (426 ÷ 49,248) x 100% = 99.14%
Notes on health rate
The health rate is now used in place of the previously common illness rate. One benefit of this change is that – unlike an illness rate – an increase in this KPI is a positive development. Depending on the occupational health and safety data available to you, you might be able to use alternative formulas to calculate a health rate. For example, instead of looking at hours, you could look at the ratio of normal workdays to workdays lost to illness:
100 – (Workdays lost ÷ Normal workdays) x 100
In the AMCS software platform, the health rate is calculated as standard by multiplying lost workdays by 8, corresponding to an average 8-hour working day. (However, users can also define their own KPIs in the software.)
100 – ((Workdays lost x 8) ÷ Normal working hours) x 100
A note of caution: In some companies, the health rate is calculated using the total number of workdays or working hours lost, whether due to accidents or for other reasons. This means it is not possible to determine whether putting additional safety measures in place would actually have an effect, or whether there might be underlying external causes such as a flu outbreak. We therefore do not recommend using such calculations for incident management purposes.
illness Rate
Like the health rate, the illness rate shows the relationship between total working hours lost due to accidents and normal working hours. Unlike the health rate, however, the illness rate is a negative indicator – so the lower the illness rate, the better. An illness rate of 2.7% corresponds to a health rate of 97.3%.
- Formula: Illness rate = (Lost working hours due to accidents ÷ Normal working hours) x 100
- Sample calculation: Controbax had a workforce of 342 employees in February 2021. They could have worked a theoretical total of 49,248 normal working hours, but a total of 426 hours were lost due to accidents. We can therefore calculate the company’s illness rate as follows: (426 ÷ 49,248) x 100%) = 0.86%
Notes on illness rate
Alternative formulas can be used to calculate the illness rate, similar to options for calculating the health rate. Once again, calculations based on total working time lost (due to injuries and other causes) should only be used as an indicator of incident management quality with certain caveats.
lost workday rate (LWDR)
The lost workday rate illustrates the relationship between the total number of lost workdays and the total hours worked in a company. The result is the number of lost workdays per 100 full-time employees per year. The lost workday rate can be calculated in relation to different reference values. The calculation required depends on the standardization factor by which lost workdays are multiplied. The values 1,000,000, 200,000 and 1,000 can be used as factors.
- Formula:Lost workday rate (LWDR) = (Lost workdays ÷ Hours worked) x Standardization factor
- Sample calculation: In February 2021, Controbax recorded 185 lost workdays and a total of 50,228 hours worked (including overtime). The calculation with a standardization factor of 1,000 would be as follows: (185 ÷ 50,228) x 1,000 = 3.69. If we apply a standardization factor of 200,000, the LWDR is 737.64; if we apply a factor of 1,000,000, the LWDR is 3683.20
Notes on lost workday rate
The LWDR is often referenced in management and sustainability reports and is a highly effective means of drawing direct international comparisons. In the USA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) specifies a standardization factor of 200,000 to ensure that all companies use the same calculation for this KPI. If your aim is to make international comparisons, you should follow this requirement.
A note of caution: As the lost workday rate is based on the total number of lost workdays (due to injuries and other causes), it is not possible to determine what influence implementing new safety measures might have. This indicator’s impact is therefore limited in the context of incident management.
LTIFR: lost time injury frequency rate
The lost time injury frequency rate (LTIFR) shows the relationship between the number of injuries that result in lost working time and the total hours worked in the company. It is sometimes also referred to as the lost time injury rate (LTIR). Like the lost workday rate (LWDR), the LTIFR can be used to record the frequency of accidents on different scales. Again, this comes down to the factor by which the number of accidents is multiplied, with the values 1,000,000, 200,000 and 1,000 all in use.
- Formula: LTIFR = Injuries ÷ Working hours x Standardization factor
- Sample calculation: Using the figures from Controbax, 6 injuries in a total of 50,228 hours worked, we can calculate the LTIFR using a standardization factor 1,000,000 as (6 ÷ 50,228) x 1,000,000 = 119.4. If we apply a standardization factor of 200,000, the LTIFR is 23.89; with a factor of 1,000, the LTIFR is 0.12
Notes on lost time injury frequency rate
The LTIFR is the internationally recognized accident rate. When it comes to drawing international comparisons, measuring the number of accidents in relation to hours worked is more useful than in relation to number of employees, as the hours worked per employee differ significantly from country to country.
severity rate
The severity rate illustrates the relationship between the total number of lost workdays due to injury and the number of lost-time injuries.
- Formula:Severity rate = Workdays lost ÷ Lost-time injuries (LTIs)
- Sample calculation: With 54 workdays lost due to injury and 6 lost-time injuries, the severity rate for Controbax is calculated as follows: 54 ÷ 6 = 9. This means that, on average, employees are off work for 9 days per accident
Notes on severity rate
The severity rate is a useful figure in addition to the number of lost-time injuries. Not only does it help to reduce the number of accidents, it also helps to mitigate their consequences. This KPI is vital when building an argument for investment in better workplace safety such as improved PPE, BBS programs or EHS software, as it makes the cost of workplace accidents and the resulting lost work time, abundantly clear to decision-makers.
ready to improve your workplace incident management?
Having read this article, you will have a working knowledge of the most important proactive and reactive KPIs, which can help you to define and communicate your incident management goals.
Deciding on a suitable set of KPIs is not always easy, as there is no cover-all solution that works for every company. Look at your company’s current situation, the problems you face and the goals you hope to achieve as the basis for your decision. In addition to goals and problems, make sure to consider your current safety culture.
Ultimately, incident management KPIs are based on employees filing reports – so you must show transparency when explaining the purpose of KPIs to ensure your employees embrace them in their daily work. You also need a simple, easy-to-understand system for submitting reports and tracking incidents. Consequently, you should only track KPIs that you are sure are based on a sufficient pool of data.
One way to simplify this process is to use an EHS management software solution such as the AMCS Platform. To find out more about how AMCS can help you select and manage the right KPIs for your company, speak to an AMCS expert today.