Safety Culture and How
Employee Engagement Is Measured

Your company has a safety culture, and even the most mature cultures can improve. However, how do you measure the success of something as complex and multifaceted as culture? This article will discuss the key elements that make up a safety culture, how employee engagement is measured, and the metrics you can use to improve on it.

The key elements of Safety Culture

Before you can measure something, you need to understand its parts. So let’s look at some critical elements of a workplace safety culture:

Leadership commitment: Leadership must be committed to promoting and sustaining a positive safety culture by providing the necessary resources, training, and support to ensure that safety is a top priority.

Employee engagement: Employees must feel empowered to report hazards and near-miss incidents without fear of retribution. A strong safety culture requires ongoing communication, training, and education to ensure employees understand their safety roles and responsibilities.

Clear expectations: Established expectations for safety performance and behaviors, including setting goals and objectives, establishing performance metrics, and regularly monitoring and reporting progress.

Continuous improvement: A strong safety culture has a continuous improvement mindset that constantly looks for ways to enhance safety through audits, inspections, data and incident analysis, and corrective actions.

Training and education: Ongoing training ensures that employees understand the risks associated with their work and have the knowledge and skills to protect themselves, their coworkers, and the company.

Accountability: A strong safety culture involves holding employees and leaders accountable for their actions and ensuring everyone is committed to safety.

Metrics for Measuring Safety Culture

Now that we know the critical elements of a safety culture let’s look at how employee engagement is measured. Below are some common metrics you can start using today to measure your organization’s safety culture. 

Near-miss reporting rate: A higher number of near-miss incidents reported by employees reflects a positive safety culture because employees feel comfortable reporting hazards and near-miss incidents without fear of retaliation.

Safety training completion rate: The safety training completion rate measures the percentage of employees who have completed the required safety training over a specific period. A higher completion rate indicates a healthier safety culture, as employees are engaged in the safety process and understand their roles and responsibilities.

Safety inspection completion rate: The completion rate measures the percentage of scheduled safety inspections completed on time over a specific period. A higher completion rate indicates a stronger safety culture, as the organization is committed to identifying and addressing potential hazards.

Employee participation in safety committees: The employee participation rate in safety committees measures the percentage of employees participating in safety committees or other safety-related activities over a specific period. A higher participation rate indicates a more robust safety culture, as employees are engaged in the safety culture and have a voice in safety-related decisions.

Figuring out how employee engagement is measured regarding safety culture is one of the first hurdles in the journey toward improvement. Improving safety culture can be challenging, and organizations must take a strategic approach to assess their current culture accurately. However, gaining real insight into and tracking the above metrics can be tricky. Thankfully, the process becomes much more straightforward with the right tools. 

ProcessMAP can help

EHS software can provide a comprehensive solution for measuring and improving safety cultures and EHS programs. By providing a standardized methodology across the organization, software helps companies analyze their safety data, identify areas for improvement, and measure the effectiveness of safety culture initiatives. 

EHS software can also improve employee engagement, a significant step toward improving workplace safety culture. It does so by reducing the effort required for employees to participate in near-miss and hazard reporting, often by putting those processes at their fingertips with simple, modern mobile apps. 

EHS software from ProcessMAP, an Ideagen solution, helps companies digitize, standardize, and analyze safety data across their organization. Schedule a demo today to learn more about how ProcessMAP can help move your organization’s safety and health program from reactive to proactive and create a safer, more compliant workplace.