The new name for...
Mines Rescue Service
DEVELOPING CRITICAL HAZARD (SAFETY
PERFORMANCE) INDICATORS
The real benefit of using Critical Hazard Indicators
is that they identify and drive compliance of critical risk
control measures (gives early warning before failure)
and is a proactive approach to risk management.
The management indicators can be either leading (active
monitoring) or lagging (reactive monitoring), but ideally
are a mixture of both. They should have the potential to be
measurable even if this requires additional work to ensure
this information is available (e.g. changes to software).
In addition to being measurable, they should also be
meaningful, that is measuring the correct things, things
which are critical controls highlighted in the preventive or
mitigation measures within the Bow Tie.
Once decided, the presentation of these indicators can
be set. It is useful to again have a very simplistic method
of identifying compliance (or non-compliance) with targets
set. A simple colour coded chart, or series of charts, with
easy identification of compliance or non-compliance can be
presented.
The indicators may be set for the business as a whole
or departmentalised (e.g. by site); this may be decided
by such issues as the size of the organisation, geography
or management structures. It is important that when the
indicators have been decided and how the information is to
be obtained, that responsibility is given to individuals for
obtaining and producing the desired information
Examples of leading indicators are testing/inspections
or competence requirements (e.g. training); for lagging
indicators, examples could be environmental alarms or
incidents. Measurements can be expressed as units or
percentages, for example. A balance must be struck in
achieving the correct number of indicators. Too many can
result in an over laborious monitoring process which may
miss key information, but it is essential, to measure the
critical elements. Leading and lagging indicators should
be set for each major and fatal hazard identified for the
particular business.
REVIEW
It is likely that the initial Critical Hazard Indicators
set won’t be perfect. Therefore, review is vital to allow
improvements to be made to the system, which may
include different indicators or more effective ways of
obtaining the information to measure.
With the completion of the Bow Tie assessment,
standards or work instructions can then be developed
along with suitable emergency arrangements can also be
developed.
ABOUT MRS TRAINING AND RESCUE
MRS Training and Rescue provides a health and safety
service to assist organisations to implement or review a
whole or part of their Safety Management System, this
can include the development of risk assessment and
Critical Hazard Indicators. MRS has carried out this work
in major hazard industries using expertise, knowledge and
experience built up within the business.
See more at: www.mrsl.co.uk
HSE INTERNATIONAL
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