Management system guidance
6.2 OH&S Objectives and Planning to Achieve Them
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6.2.2 Planning to achieve OH&S objectives
Setting OH&S objectives is only half the job; clause 6.2.2 requires your organization to plan how each objective will be achieved. OHSAS 18001 called this an ‘OH&S management programme’; ISO 45001 simply asks for planning, and the plan can cover one objective or several. When planning, your organization must decide:
- What actions will be taken;
- What resources are needed (e.g. financial, human, equipment, infrastructure; see 7.1);
- Who is responsible for each action;
- When each action will be completed;
- How the results will be evaluated, including the indicators used to monitor progress;
- How the actions will be built into the organization’s normal business processes rather than run as a separate safety exercise.
Documented information on the OH&S objectives and on the plans to achieve them must be both maintained (the current plan) and retained (evidence of progress and results). A simple objectives and action plan register is usually sufficient.
Planning should involve people from the relevant functional areas. Clause 5.4 d) emphasizes consultation of non-managerial workers on establishing objectives and planning to achieve them; these people are well positioned to help plan realistic actions, and their involvement builds commitment and demonstrates positive leadership.
Practical tips
- Get top management buy-in to the OH&S objectives. This ensures that adequate resources are applied and that the objectives are integrated with other organizational goals;
- In communicating objectives to workers, link them to the actual improvements being sought, e.g. reducing manual handling injuries or closing out corrective actions on time, as this gives people something tangible to work towards;
- Make sure the plan supports the commitments in your OH&S policy, especially the commitment to eliminate hazards and reduce OH&S risks using the hierarchy of controls (see 8.1.2);
- Be flexible: define the desired result, then let the people responsible determine how to achieve it;
- Objectives can be established to maintain current levels of performance, or to improve performance;
- Communicate progress across the organization, for example through regular reports at team meetings and safety committee meetings;
- How many objectives should an organization have? Experience with small and medium-sized organizations suggests starting with a limited number (say, three to five) and expanding the list over time;
- Keep your OH&S objectives simple initially, gain some early successes, and then build on them;
- Remember that contractors and suppliers can help you achieve your objectives (e.g. by supplying safer equipment or substances), so consider them in your planning (see 8.1.4).
Plans must be realistic in terms of the resources available, and should show who is responsible, agreed timings, and the measures used to establish progress and whether the intended results have been achieved. Changes introduced to achieve an objective (new equipment, revised work methods, reorganized shifts) should be managed through your management of change process (see 8.1.3) so that new hazards are not introduced.
The use of indicators needs to be audited in detail in order to determine whether:
- Objectives are based on sound information;
- Indicators really relate to the corresponding objectives;
- Statistical tools are needed to define and monitor objectives;
- Indicators are reaching the expected values;
- The organization can demonstrate that the objective has been achieved.
Establishing an action plan for each objective may require considerable effort from personnel at relevant levels within your organization. To keep the plan on track, nominate an owner for each objective who is responsible for seeing that it is achieved within the agreed timeframe. Once the plan is established, it must be implemented. The following suggestions help foster a cooperative effort:
- Involve workers early in establishing and carrying out the action plans;
- Communicate the expectations and responsibilities in the action plans to those who need to know;
- Build on the plans and arrangements you already have for legal compliance;
- Keep it simple;
- Focus on continual improvement of the plans over time.
The plans should be reviewed regularly to reflect changes in your organization’s objectives. Track new or modified operations, activities and products in case the plans need to be amended to reflect these changes, and report progress to top management as an input to management review.
Selecting safety performance indicators
Safety performance indicators are the parameters that provide the organization with a view of its OH&S performance: where it has been, where it is now, and where it is headed. This picture acts as a solid and defensible foundation for data-driven safety decisions. Where practicable, each objective should be linked to an indicator, which can be strategic, tactical or operational.
These decisions, in turn, positively affect the organization’s OH&S performance. The identification of safety performance indicators should therefore be realistic, relevant, and linked to the OH&S objectives, regardless of their simplicity or complexity.
It is likely that the initial selection of SPIs will be limited to parameters that are easy or convenient to capture (safety data that is readily available). Ideally, SPIs should focus on parameters that are important indicators of OH&S performance, rather than on those that are easy to collect. SPIs should be:
- Related to the objective they aim to indicate;
- Selected or developed based on available data and reliable measurement;
- Appropriately specific and quantifiable; and
- Realistic, taking into account the possibilities and constraints of the organization.
A combination of indicators is usually required to provide a clear picture of OH&S performance. There should be a clear link between lagging and leading indicators; ideally lagging SPIs should be defined before determining leading SPIs.
Defining a precursor indicator that is linked to a more serious event or condition (the lagging SPI) ensures there is a clear correlation between the two. All SPIs, lagging and leading, are equally valid and valuable. The definition of each SPI should include:
- A description of what the SPI measures;
- The purpose of the SPI (what it is intended to manage and who it is intended to inform);
- The units of measurement and any requirements for its calculation;
- Who is responsible for collecting, validating, monitoring, reporting and acting on the SPI (these may be people from different parts of the organization);
- Where or how the data should be collected; and
- The frequency of reporting, collecting, monitoring and analysis of the SPI data.
The two most common categories used by organizations to classify their safety performance indicators are leading (proactive) and lagging (reactive).
Leading safety performance indicators
There are a variety of ways to measure OH&S performance, but no single metric will provide leaders with all the information they need. Instead, several measures are needed to provide an accurate picture of the organization’s OH&S performance.
Leading or proactive indicators focus on the processes and inputs being implemented to improve or maintain health and safety. They are used to identify risks before an incident occurs and measure what workers and managers are doing on a regular basis to prevent injury and ill health.
They are also known as ‘activity or process-based SPIs’ as they monitor and measure conditions that have the potential to become, or contribute to, a specific outcome. Examples of leading indicators include:
- Percentage of workers who have completed required OH&S training on time;
- Frequency of toolbox talks;
- Incident investigations completed on time;
- Number of job safety analyses carried out versus plan;
- Hazards identified and corrected;
- Worker perception and safety culture surveys;
- OH&S audits and inspections completed versus plan;
- Number of internal audits and the findings raised;
- Frequency of OH&S committee meetings and attendance of key personnel;
- Near-miss and hazard reports submitted;
- Number of formal risk assessments reviewed;
- Frequency of OH&S communication and worker consultation activities.
Leading indicators may also show how well the organization copes with change, including changes in its operating environment. The focus will be either on anticipating weaknesses and vulnerabilities resulting from the change or on monitoring performance after a change. An example would be ‘percentage of sites or areas that have been trained in and implemented procedure X’.
Lagging safety performance indicators
The most commonly used OH&S indicator is work-related injury and ill health. But a low injury rate, even over a period of years, is no guarantee that risks are being controlled. This is particularly true in organizations where there is a low probability of accidents but where major hazards are present.
Lagging or reactive indicators measure events that have already occurred. They are also referred to as ‘outcome-based SPIs’ and are normally (but not always) the negative outcomes the organization is aiming to avoid. They help the organization understand what has happened in the past and are useful for long-term trending. They can be used as a high-level indicator or for specific occurrence types or locations, such as ‘types of injury per job role’ or ‘specific incident types by site’.
Because lagging SPIs measure outcomes, they can show the effectiveness of controls and validate overall OH&S performance. Trends in lagging SPIs can be analysed to identify conditions in the system that should be addressed. Examples include:
- Number of serious incidents;
- Recordable incident frequency rate;
- Injury frequency and severity rates;
- Lost workdays;
- Cases of work-related ill health;
- Property damage incidents;
- Enforcement notices or regulatory interventions received.
Safety goals and measurements
Development of specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound (SMART) goals is important to the success of any health and safety programme. Unfortunately, many people make the mistake of focusing solely on the desired outcomes. They fail to develop activity-based goals that will help them reach those outcomes. To increase the chances of success, develop both activity-based and outcome-based goals.
Prioritize metrics in areas of concern or where a serious incident is more likely to occur. For example, if vehicle accidents are common, measure the level of driver training or review the frequency of accidents in different regions.
You should seek and record evidence that, for each OH&S objective, your organization has determined what will be done, the resources required, who is responsible, completion dates and how results will be evaluated (including indicators); that the actions are integrated into business processes; that workers were consulted in the planning; and that documented information on the objectives and plans is maintained and retained.
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