I often think about what success looks like for a safety professional. Companies usually measure their safety performance on leading or lagging indicators. While leading indicators are the new trend in safety and provide a snapshot of metrics that forecast future trends and performance, safety professionals are often judged on lagging indicators — metrics that show past outcomes, days off work or how many first-aid incidents versus fatalities a company has had. The truth is that a safety professional will always remember the lives lost and not the ones saved because we never hear about the ones saved.
The question is: How do we change leaders’ mindsets to start looking at leading indicators? Providing actionable data is important so companies can start making quick-win decisions. For example, identifying hazards before they hurt someone or having a quick debrief with the team after a project to share tips for improvement are small changes organizations can make to be proactive.
However, as I continue to talk to the ground-level people who are in the trenches every day, I find myself realizing that the “why” behind any safety change is what can reach the root of the heart. If you can help a person understand why safety will get them home at night, then each person can start to own safety as their responsibility. Companies that show dedication to their employees and safety can succeed in creating a culture of growing individual safety ownership.
A common theme we have used in the past to connect with our employees is “Destination Home.” Destination Home has been a campaign that has resonated strongly for years because of its relatability to personal safety. Employees want to come home the same way they went in. So, if companies can use leading indicators to help protect employees, their destination can always be home.
Effective leading indicators measure risk and reduce severity. Indicators should be observable and specific. Being engaged with employees and encouraging them to own safety, rather than just checking the box, can be the difference between a culture that thinks it is zero-injury and one that owns a low-risk safety program. Focusing on high-risk work as part of those leading indicators can also help lower overall risk in the company.
Unfortunately, serious incidents rarely come without warning. Dust — even just a little more than one-eighth of an inch — has the potential to cause an explosion. Grain goes out of condition before engulfment. Equipment starts before an amputation occurs. All of these were lagging indicators, but housekeeping, proper inventory control and lockout/tagout can be the leading indicators that make all the difference.
If we want safer facilities, we must move beyond counting injuries and start measuring our safeguards. The goal is not fewer incidents; it is preventing the conditions that make them possible in the first place.
I was recently training employees on confined space entry. Upon reaching the grain vacuum slide, I shared my personal story of grain bin safety. After the training was over, an employee approached me and asked if he could show me something. He pulled out his wallet and showed me a notecard with the words, “A conversation I will not have.” It was an exercise I did with a group of employees in 2023. After giving a presentation, I asked them to write on a notecard the words they would say to the family of a co-worker who had just died in a workplace accident. On the other side, I asked them to write, “A conversation I will not have.”
This employee had kept that note in his wallet for more than three years and continues to use it as a daily reminder of his personal commitment to safety. One activity, one leading indicator, can make the difference in an employee returning home. Destination Home is the measure of a safety professional’s success. We can never count the lives saved, but we can count the success of personal commitment to safety. And employees who share those moments of impact with us make it even better.
Cadrien Livingston is director of safety for Younglove. You can reach out to her at cadrienl@klingercompanies.com or 712-233-3236.