The path toward successful safety performance measurement

Safety management is widely seen as a key contributor to occupational health and safety (OHS) performance. Performance measurement is an important tool for management in reaching its goals. Safety performance measurement has gained increasing attention in the literature. However, little is known so far of the path towards successful safety performance measurement resulting in better OHS performance.

This study analyzes the maturity of safety performance measurement in relation to OHS performance and the role of employee commitment and practices of using performance information in facilitating the performance benefits. The empirical data were gathered with a survey that received 270 responses from five industrial organizations. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyze the data obtained.

It is found that commitment to performance measurement is the strongest explaining factor of both supervisor and employee OHS performance, while the maturity of performance measurement has a direct effect on supervisor safety performance only.

The results show how safety performance measurement can be implemented to derive the potential benefits. While managers may benefit directly from advanced performance measures, the wider performance benefits among employees materialize only by using performance measurement properly and committing employees to it.