Why use Data Driven Decision Making (DDDM) – Part 2: Data Driven Safety at Your Facility

 

This is Part 2 of a multipart series on Data Driven Decision Making. Each part is intended to stand alone, but they can all be read together as well.  Every organization is at a different stage in their journey and so different parts of this series may be applicable. The first part dealt with some reason behind why organizations would rely upon data to make decision as opposed to the intuition and experience of their high paid experts. Here is a link to Part 1.

Safety. Production. Cost reduction. Run Time. Efficiency. Innovation. Profitability.

As the Saying goes – “Safety First”. The first stop on our Journey to Data Driven Decision Making is Safety.  Safety deals with the most valuable resource for all organizations – their people. Regardless of product or service, people are required to make organizations function, thrive and evolve. From a data perspective, Safety is a great place to start the journey towards Data Driven Decision Making as the organization likely has an existing repository of accumulated data. Safety programs are, by their nature, data driven and they induce tangible outcomes within the enterprise. Safety programs are an essential part of the workplace and corporate success.  Not only do they satisfy regulations and regulatory authorities, but the effective deployment and management of safety programs can be both beneficial and profitable to companies, especially those with high frequency and/or high severity risks. 

Safety programs are inherently data driven programs as they rely on risk assessment data to identify hazards in the workplace and industry data coupled with critical thinking to identify effective solutions. These programs also rely on performance data to communicate the success of the program within the organization. A data driven approach can identify areas for improvement and also provide input as to how programs can evolve to meet the changing needs of the organization. Lost time incidents, near misses and mean time between incidents are all data that can be counted and easily measured. Collecting data lays the foundation for analysis that is essential for demonstrating the effectiveness of the program and for improvement inside the organization while also informing regulatory bodies of performance. As with operations and production, there are questions that should be asked –

•         Which data is meaningful? 
•      Where does it reside?
•      Who needs to see it?

The more effective programs tend to incorporate both leading and lagging indicators to provide insight into workplace incidents and how to devise solutions to prevent them. Analyzing the data can uncover trends regarding the underlying causes of incidents and provide insight regarding potential solutions that would also allow management to act to implement preventative measures where they will be most effective.

Figure 2: Reduction in Incident Rates due to Data Driven Safety

Source: https://www.mapleleaffoods.com/sustainability/better-communities/occupational-health-and-safety/

Data driven safety can build upon maintaining the safety of the workforce by extending it to determine what drives satisfaction and joy in the workplace in addition to preserving corporate investment in workforce education, training and continuous learning. Data and its analysis have the ability to shape the workplace, foster a culture of safety and to ensure comprehension and application of key safety concepts. Keeping the workforce safe, ensuring continuous production and maintaining efficient operations can all be accomplished through the deployment of a data driven decision making.

Does your safety program use data to drive compliance and production?

Can your safety program propel you along your journey to data driven decision making?

Do you use your safety program as an example of DDDM?

In the next part of the series, we will be looking at data driven production, including runtime, cost reduction and quality.