This week I had an enlighting discussion with another senior management group that was just way off base in their understanding of OSHA’s use of injury and illness rates. This company is in an industry that is certainly on OSHA’s radar, and their desire to improve safety is simply to reduce their injury and illness rates so they are less likely to receive an OSHA inspection than their competitors. If there is ever a sign from above that a group of executives has lost their way in their safety journey, this is it! So this injury rate discussion led to a discussion about their “safety metrics,” which, of course, were ONLY their Recordable Rate and DART rate. Their rationalization for these rates was simply these are the rates that OSHA uses to establish enforcement priorities, so if they are being used by OSHA for this purpose, why would we not use them? The answer is quite simple, but I believe it can be quite difficult for many management groups…
