OSHA encourages stakeholders to share feedback on effectiveness of leading indicators to improve, develop resource tool

Original article published by OSHA

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration is asking for stakeholder input on their current use of leading indicators and their impact on managing their safety and health management systems.

Leading indicators are proactive and preventive measures that can provide insight on the effectiveness of safety and health activities and reveal potential problems. They are vital in reducing worker fatalities, injuries, illnesses, and financial impacts.

As OSHA considers developing a Leading Indicators Resource, the agency welcomes stakeholders to share their experience and expertise and provide detailed feedback on how/where they are used at their workplace. OSHA is interested in various perspectives on stakeholders’ answers to questions, such as the following:

• What leading indicators do you use?
• What lagging indicators do you use (OSHA incident rates, for example)?
• What leading indicators are, or could be, commonly used in your industry?
• What metrics do you share with top management?
• How do you determine the effectiveness of your leading indicators?
• Do you link your leading indicators to outcome data, such as OSHA incident rates to evaluate results?
• How could employers be encouraged to use leading indicators in addition to lagging indicators to improve safety management systems?
• What barriers and challenges, if any, have you encountered to using leading indicators?

Read the full list of OSHA’s questions. Submit comments through regulations.gov (Docket No. OSHA-2023-0006) by July 17, 2023.

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