Why is it that safety metrics always get such a bad wrap? We hear the voices from the back of the room… “what gets measured, gets manipulated,” so the outcry is that somehow measuring safety (other than the regulatory lagging indicators) is a waste of time and misleading.
The funny thing is I never hear anyone decrying all the business’s financial metrics, leading or lagging! If someone is caught manipulating those financial metrics, they can be criminally charged, and it happens FREQUENTLY at varying degrees (visit the USDOJ news release page). Yet, I have not heard the outcry from the back of the room to end all the financial business metrics, leading or lagging. Instead, we hold those who manipulate the financial metrics ACCOUNTABLE with consequences for their actions. In some cases, when this fraud impacts the general public, there may be new government legislation put in place to VALIDATE (e.g., inspect and audit) those metrics in “publically traded” businesses.
So here is the hard truth… MEASURE “safety” using the same means and methods we use to measure the financial health of the business. Those manipulating safety data will be held accountable to the same level as those found manipulating the financial data. If we think this is fairy tale thinking… remember that the banner we drove by coming into the plant this morning did not state that “Financials are number 1”.
If we think measuring only lagging indicators in safety is acceptable, then we should be able to agree to lay off all the financial analysis/accountants and go with a single CFO to run the entire finance department. We can accomplish this by ending all the leading financial metrics. End the reporting of leading financial indicators. End the analysis of any leading financial indicators and measure ONLY a single lagging financial metric: BOUNCED CHECKS.
Sound foolish? Sound illogical? It should, because that is NO way to run any business function. But when all that is being measured is injuries, and the only analysis done is when OSHA requires the annual injury/illness report to be submitted, that is precisely how we are running our safety process. So unless management can agree to count bounced checks as the SOLE metric for finance, spare me the outcry on measuring safety as a process.
We should not ask for Safety to be “Number 1”; we should expect safety to be equal to and measured like the other business metrics. Since finance will never agree (and rightfully so) to measure only bounced checks, we should not settle for measuring only injuries to manage safety.
