Content area
Full text
Applying research methodology to validate a safety audit tool
SH&E MANAGERS ARE OFTEN ASKED-and even ask themselves-"How well does the organization's risk reduction and safety plan work? How can we be certain that [any specific safety activity] will contribute to overall program improvement and reduction in losses?"
Traditional approaches to benchmarking risk management and safe work performance with incident rate reduction have failed to provide a strong connection between program causes and direct factors influencing risk and loss frequency. Benchmarking, by definition, provides a comparative baseline to serve as a "stake in the ground" for basing various measurements or systems of evaluation. For example, many businesses illustrate comparative progress by measuring reduction in workplace injuries (a frequency metric) or lost-time per case (a severity metric), often judging their performance against other businesses within the same industry or SIC.
Workplace audits are a common form of measuring an organization's safety performance. Many traditional forms of audits emphasize compliance activity and are often designed to provide a relative measure of comparison to federal OSHA or related requirements. But how effective is that process in determining the ultimate value of an overall safety program? Are the activities examined those that will have the greatest impact? While benchmarking can be a useful tool, it demonstrates a historic trend that often does not reflect the specific methods or processes a program will need to effectively implement and sustain long-term improvement. A measurement system with direct, proven links to causation is an essential tool to stimulate comprehensive organizational change.
Workplace audits and assessments can have various forms and purposes. Determining the appropriate dimensions or topics can render a wide variety of conclusions, each of which may or may not achieve the best result, or measure those dimensions that have the greatest positive effect. Although many off-the-shelf audits are available, in some cases the best choice is an audit designed specifically for a given application, based on what the users want to measure, what they ultimately wish to learn and how they will use what they learn.
When selecting an off-the-shelf audit tool or working to develop a customized tool, how can one know whether it will be a good choice? Although many audit tools used in the field have been...