Why Safety Is A Crucial KPI – A company’s performance is often measured by financial or operational benchmarks such as gross profit or the number of staff. Whilst these are influential, how well a company performs in terms of health and safety is equally as important.
Some examples of safety KPIs include the number of reported incidents, average resolution time per incident, and frequency of safety training.
Why Safety Is A Crucial KPI
There are so many reasons why safety should be considered of equal importance to profit, here are just a few:
Employee wellbeing
It goes without saying that all employees deserve to feel well cared for at work. Regardless of the nature of a job, whether it be sitting behind a desk or out on site, safety impacts everyone.
Knowing that there are measures in place to make them feel safe allows employees both peace of mind and the ability to work more productively, which will in turn lead to greater job satisfaction.
Finance
There are so many ways that a poor safety record can impact a company financially.
Employee turnover – If employees feel that they aren’t being valued within a workplace then they are far more likely to find a job elsewhere. This in turn generates additional costs from the hiring and training process.
Claims – If employees are injured in a workplace accident and the fault is with the employers, they may be eligible for compensation. For example, those harmed badly may be able to make amputation claims. This can be incredibly costly for a business, particularly if multiple people are injured.
Cover – If an employee is injured at work, there is a high chance that you will have to organize cover for their role. Temporary cover can often be costly, especially when required for long periods of time. With over 36.8 million working days lost due to workplace injuries and work-related illnesses in 2021/22, it may be that temporary cover incurs a large cost. This may also be in addition to paying sick pay to the employee who is being covered.
Equipment – Workplace injuries don’t always just involve damage to people, they can often cause the breaking of equipment too. This equipment then needs to be replaced, which could be expensive and may also prevent certain work from being carried out during the replacement period.
Reputation
A company that has regular safety incidents can quickly gain a bad reputation both within the industry and with current and future customers.
Customers are becoming more conscious of their spending, and want to buy from organizations they trust, meaning safety needs to be prioritized.
Future investors will also want to see a company’s safety record, meaning a poor one could result in a struggle to get investment, halting potential expansion plans.
