In a previous article, we discussed taking a proactive approach to setting goals for safety and health including avoiding zero injury goals since they can place hard to reach parameters for your program and culture. Once goals are set, how do you “measure” the success or failure? One tool for companies is to look at leading and lagging indicators. While lagging indicators can alert you to a failure in an area of your safety and health efforts or to the existence of a hazard, leading indicators are important because they can tell you whether your safety and health activities are effective at preventing incidents.
Leading indicators are proactive and preventive measures that provide information on the effectiveness of safety and health activities and reveal potential problems. Leading indicators can play a vital role in preventing worker fatalities, injuries, and illnesses and strengthening other safety and health outcomes in the workplace. Examples of leading indicators will be discussed later.