You can't manage want you don't measure. We have heard it many times before. But is your workplace running the numbers.
Do they know what the critical numbers are, what the trends are, are they using the numbers to improve H&S in the workplace.
Slips, Trips & Falls
Figures released in Singapore by Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Statistics Report 2011 issued by the WSH Council and the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) track that there has been an 11% increase in workplace fatalities from 2010 compared to this 2011. This has been an increase of 6 extra workers deaths.
The majority of these deaths came from slip, trips and falls from height. 22% of these incidents was born by the Construction industry.
More Sick Days Mean a Less Efficient Workforce
As a result of this and other injuries there was an increase of 6% in lost time injuries, which if you are managing a business it will be straightforward to equate what this LTI means to your bottom line.
Therefore it is easy to demonstrate to the approving authorities what a small investment in the right personal protective and safety equipment could save in terms of LTI.
A Simple Process for Mitigating Workplace Injuries
So the way I see it, improving safety is a straightforward simple process:
- Figure out what your KPI's are for your company. This could be the Number of Days since last accident, LTI's this month, Near misses this month, Number of incidents in a category falls, hand injuries, eye injuries, No of safety breach notices. I understand collecting data is not easy, however having a system/process in place to capture data makes the practice a whole lot easier.
- Do a monthly review of data by graphing the results and determine focus of improvement for the following month.
- Implement monthly initiatives to keep the focus on safety moving on different elements of your business. It will keep safety foremost in peoples mind and it is continual improvement in developing safe work practices.
