Appendix B
Safety and Environmental Metrics Employed by Private Companies Surveyed for This Report
Table B-1, which compiles the safety and environmental metrics used by the private companies surveyed for this report, is reprinted from the National Research Council report Evaluation of Safety and Environmental Metrics for Potential Application at Chemical Agent Disposal Facilities (The National Academies Press, Washington, D.C., 2009).
TABLE B-1 Safety and Environmental Metrics Employed by Private Companies Surveyed for This Report
Measure |
Area |
Definition |
Type |
Comments |
Number of recordable injuries (RIs) or illnesses |
Personal safety |
|
Lagging |
Per OSHA requirements |
Number of lost workday cases (LWCs) |
Personal safety |
|
Lagging |
Per OSHA requirements |
Contractor injury or illness rate |
Personal safety |
Number of RIs per number of work hours × 200,000 |
Lagging |
RMTC, RWC, and DAWC (all OSHA definitions) |
Company injury or illness rate |
Personal safety |
Number of RIs per number of work hours × 200,000 |
Lagging |
RMTC, RWC, and DAWC (all OSHA definitions) |
Near miss |
Personal/environmental/transportation/process safety |
Number of unsafe conditions or events that almost injured someone but didn’t or almost spilled something but didn’t |
Leading |
Can identify unsafe conditions, safety incidents that could have been more serious in different circumstances, etc. |
Corrective and preventive actions |
Personal/environmental/transportation/process safety |
Proportion of corrective and preventive actions closed on time to total number of action items |
Leading |
Percent of action items related to employee health and safety (EH&S) incidents that have been closed by the due date |
Behavior-based process (BBP) observation |
Personal/environmental/transportation/process safety |
Number of observations of behavior as part of a behavior-based safety program |
Leading |
Total number of observations made of a work group in a given time |
Percent safe BBP observations |
Personal/environmental/transportation/process safety |
Number of safe behaviors/total behaviors |
Leading |
The percentage of safe behaviors should be less than 100 percent since your program should be looking at behaviors that you want to change and at behaviors that you are getting much better at |
Measure |
Area |
Definition |
Type |
Comments |
BBP observation—analysis to drive behavior change |
Personal safety |
Number of analyses performed |
Leading |
Should analyze the antecedents and consequences of an unwanted behavior at least quarterly. Behavior might be improved by adjusting an antecedent. |
BBP observation—driving behavior change |
Personal safety |
Number of critical behaviors that reached habit strength |
Leading |
Try to drive at least one behavior to habit strength per year by adjusting the antecedents and consequences of that behavior. |
Procedure use |
Personal/process safety |
Number of critical procedures used/number of critical procedure required tasks performed |
Leading |
Can be daily, weekly, or monthly depending on the size of the organization. Tasks that require a critical procedure are defined by the facility. |
Quality of root cause investigation (RCI) |
Personal/environmental/transportation/process safety |
Number of minimum quality criteria met for the RCIs in a given period |
Leading |
RCI minimum criteria are defined by the company. |
Pretask hazard assessment participation |
Personal safety |
Number of pretask hazard assessments performed |
Leading |
Assessment can be conducted per person or per work group, weekly or monthly. |
Performance tracking on permits |
Personal safety |
Number of defects found per permit |
Leading |
Permit documentation is audited and any mistake or omission is a defect (safe work permit/isolation of energy/confined space entry). |
Training timeliness |
Personal/environmental/transportation/process safety |
Required training completed on time—not overdue |
Leading |
Overdue EH&S training is a sign of a slipping safety culture and priority. |
Compliance task tool |
Personal/environmental/transportation/process safety |
Number of required compliance tasks overdue/total number of required compliance tasks |
Leading |
Overdue safety compliance tasks are a sign of slipping safety culture and priority. An example of these tasks is fire extinguisher inspections. |
Severity rate |
Personal safety |
Number of (RMTC × 1) + (RWC × 3) + (DAWC × 9) + (fatalities × 27) per 200,000 work hours |
Lagging |
Gives a weighted rate |
DAWC count |
Personal safety |
Number of DAWCs |
Lagging |
|
DAWC rate |
Personal safety |
Number of DAWC per 200,000 work hours |
Lagging |
|
Loss of primary containment (LOPC) count |
Personal safety |
Number of LOPCs |
Lagging |
For example, leaks, breaks, and spills |
Severe LOPC (Categories 1,1A, and 2A) |
Personal/environmental/process safety |
Number of Category 1, 1A, and 2A LOPCs |
Lagging |
Category 1 is any loss of primary containment resulting in the release of >5,000 lb flammable chemical. Category 1A is a release causing a DAWC. Category 2A is a spill resulting in a RI. |
Category 4 LOPC count |
Personal/environmental/process safety |
Number of Category 4 LOPCs |
Leading |
Category 4 is a minor spill of <100 lb that has no measurable impact on people or the environment. |
Ratio of Category 4 LOPC to Categories 1, 2, and 3 LOPCs |
Personal safety |
Ratio of Category 4 LOPCs to all other categories of LOPCs |
Leading |
Try to achieve a 40:1 ratio in order to find the small spills and fix them before they become larger spills. (Category 2 is a loss of primary containment with a release of >1,000 lb or an RMTC or a RWC (2A). Category 3 is any LOPC that loses >100 lb of chemical or 1,000 lb of dry inert solids). |
Measure |
Area |
Definition |
Type |
Comments |
Number of process safety events |
Process safety |
Number of events within a specified time period. The severity of events may be low, medium, or high. |
Both lagging and leading |
For near misses, it’s a leading indicator. |
Number of fatality potential events |
Personal/transportation/process safety |
Number of such events within a specified time period |
Lagging |
Measure progress in addressing high-potential events. |
Motor vehicle accident (MVA) count |
Transportation |
Number of MVAs |
Lagging |
An MVA is a motor vehicle accident resulting in personal injury or at least $500 in damage. |
MVA rate |
Transportation |
Number of MVAs per million miles driven |
Lagging |
Includes all miles driven from company owned, leased, or rented vehicles and miles driven on company business from personal vehicles |
Number of preventable accidents or number of preventable accidents per unit time or distance |
Transportation |
Number of preventable product-carrying vehicle accidents or a rate based on this number |
Lagging |
|
Number of high-severity accidents or number of high-severity accidents per unit time or distance |
Transportation |
Number of high-severity product-carrying vehicle accidents or a rate based on this number |
Lagging |
|
Number of rollovers/rollover rate |
Transportation |
Number of product-carrying vehicle rollovers or a rate based on this number |
Lagging |
|
Energy intensity |
Environmental |
British thermal units per pound production |
Lagging |
|
Greenhouse gas (GHG) energy efficiency |
Environmental |
Quantity of carbon dioxide (CO2) generated per unit of production |
Lagging |
|
Wastewater intensity |
Environmental |
Pounds of wastewater per pound of production |
Lagging |
Water that is treated at a wastewater treatment facility |
Waste intensity |
Environmental |
Pounds of waste per pound of production |
Lagging |
Material that receives end-of-pipe treatment; report as the bulk amount prior to treatment. |
Total waste weight |
Environmental |
Weight by type and disposal method |
Lagging |
|
Chemical emissions |
Environmental |
Chemical emissions (tons) |
Lagging |
Material that is released to the environment that does not receive end-of-pipe treatment (not including water). Chemical emissions exclude conventional emissions such as combustion products (nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, sulfur oxides, CO2, and particulates), methane, and hydrogen. Also excluded are the “normally excluded as an emission” compounds from GEI such as nitrogen, oxygen, water, aluminum, and salts (chlorides, sulfates, hydroxides, oxides, hypochlorite, and carbonates). |